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Second in a series
It was Atonement Day, and the cemetery was Stop One.
The big buses pulled up, and the crowd rustled respectfully as the families approached.
Solemn men pulled back black plastic that covered the new marble monument to the martyr. As the minister intoned a prayer, an elderly woman flung herself onto her knees beside the grave, moaning and waving her arms.
It was Polly Heidelberg, unofficial den mother to the civil rights workers who came to Mississippi 25 years ago to try to break the white stranglehold on society. She's become famous for fainting at every occasion like this ever since.
The monument is eloquent, with a poem and an engraving of clasped hands. But the eternal flame couldn't be lit as planned; for obscure reasons it won't be ready until August.
No matter. The crowd piled back into the buses and cars and headed for Philadelphia, where a governor, a couple of mayors, assorted choirs, ministers, rabbis and the liquid sun were waiting.
So began Wednesday's daylong ceremonies commemorating the 1964 murders in Philadelphia of three young civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. Their deaths marked a national turning point in the civil rights battle, and another kind of turning point for the town, which became a national symbol of bigotry.
A quarter of a century later, the reputation remains, especially now that the murders have been sensationalized in the film, "Mississippi Burning."
As the anniversary drew near, local businesspeople began worrying.
"We knew...