A forgotten Meridian park dedicated 20 years ago in memory of a civil rights icon has been revitalized.

    On Saturday, elected officials, civil rights leaders and area residents gathered at the James Chaney Memorial Ball Field to rededicate the park, which has sat idle for longer than most can remember.

    As little as two weeks ago, the stretch of land that runs along Paulding Street between 39th and 40th avenues was overgrown with weeds and considered no more than a vacant lot by nearby residents.

    Since then, the grass has been cut and a new baseball diamond carved neatly into the red clay dirt. On Saturday, bleachers were filled with spectators who cheered loudly during a pickup game of kickball between the Justice League and Divas on the Run.

    The rededication was part official and part festive, with speeches and activities punctuated with a history of the city’s role in the Civil Rights Movement and a reminder for residents in the predominantly African-American community to register to vote.

    For Saturday’s event, a stage and speakers’ podium were erected, a bounce house was inflated for area children and the smell of charcoal, hot dogs and hamburgers wafted across the park grounds, where a large crowd was gathered.

    First at the podium was Ward 4 Meridian City Councilwoman Kim Houston, who represents those who reside in the community where the park is located. It was she, other speakers would say, who was the driving force for breathing new life into the park.

    “When this park was brought to my attention and I saw it was just a patch of grass, it really bothered me,” Houston said. “It bothered me even more when people began to talk to me about the park and nobody seemed to know where it was and nobody knew any history about it.”

    Help came from Meridian Mayor Percy Bland and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, who provided the manpower to restore the park.

    “If you looked at it two weeks ago, you wouldn’t think this would have been possible,” Parks and Recreation Director Kelvin McGruder said of the work done. “There was a lot of hard work and dedication from our folks that went into this.”

    The James Chaney Memorial Ball Field was dedicated Oct. 28, 1995, and was originally funded by the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development through a Community Development Block Grant.

    James Earl Chaney, the park’s namesake, a Meridian native, was killed in June 1964, along with New Yorkers Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman during Freedom Summer, a drive to register African Americans to vote.

    “The entire focus of Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman was voter registration, getting the vote out,” Mississippi House Rep. Charles Young Jr. told the crowd gathered at the park. “So today, I ask you to remember why we are here and that you make certain you exercise your right to vote.”

    Joe Norwood, the District 4 representative for the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors, said Chaney’s life was taken in order to grant those attending the right to vote.

    “Sometimes I wonder if his life was taken and given in vain because now we have all the freedoms and all the resources of the world,” Norwood said. “And the hardest thing for us to do as elected officials is to get children ages 18 and older to go to the polls and vote.”

    Attendees were directed to a table where they were assisted with voter registration.

    Dr. Charles Johnson, a civil rights worker in Meridian in the 1960s, is pastor of Fitkin’s Memorial Church of the Nazarene.

    Johnson said it is important for young people to remember the contributions made by Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman.

    “In the 1960s, what James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner did set me free,” Johnson said. “They not only set the African Americans free, but they set the white man free, too. They set everybody free so that we can meet together; that we can live together; that we can sing together. We can praise God and have things together in Meridian, Mississippi.”

    After the speakers concluded their remarks, members of the local chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity donated $300 to help sponsor the park. Drummers with the Meridian High School band kicked off the remainder of the day’s festivities with a performance, that was followed by the game of kickball.

    As for the park, Houston said she would like to see it developed further – with its own baseball league and perhaps a field for flag football and soccer, and maybe even a water splash pad for children. She hopes residents will conduct weddings, reunions and parties there.

    “I believe if we work together like we are doing today, this park can be the best looking and most used park in the city of Meridian,” Houston said.