It was hot on Saturday, just as it must have been 43 years ago when Civil Rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were taken down a dirt road in Philadelphia, where they were beaten and murdered.

But high temperatures did not dissuade the more than 100 people who met at First Missionary Baptist Church in Meridian early Saturday morning to make several stops on the way to the Neshoba County Courthouse where a memorial was held for the Civil Rights martyrs.

Chaney, a black man from Meridian, and Schwerner and Goodman, white men from New York, were looking into the torching of a black church and helping register black voters during what was called Freedom Summer. They had been stopped for speeding, jailed briefly and then released, after which they were ambushed by a gang of Klansmen.

Mississippi prosecutors revived their investigation of the slayings a few years ago, and reputed Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was convicted on three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005 — exactly 41 years after the killings. Now 82, Killen is serving a 60-year prison sentence.

Meridian native George Smith said he worked closely with the men, and while standing in front of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) office at 2505 1/2 Fifth Street Saturday morning, he reminisced about the day they died.

“This building is the place they left from to go to Philadelphia the day they got murdered,” Smith said. “I can remember staying here all night waiting for them to call.”

The 43rd Annual Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs Memorial Service, Conference and Caravan for Justice made its first stop at the old COFO office. There, those who volunteered during Freedom Summer of 1964 were honored for their work and dedication to register black voters and to gain rights and justice for all black people.

• 10:10 a.m. — COFO office. Joe Morris of Minnesota gained the nickname “Minnesota Red” from members of the Ku Klux Klan during the times he worked to register black voters in Meridian. He was arrested several times for working with black people and received severe beatings at the hands of Meridian police.

Morris introduced A.C. Henderson who worked during the Civil Rights movement but had never before been recognized publicly for his work.

“When we were trying to get people to register to vote and someone needed a ride, Mr. Henderson would take them. He would stand up in meetings and say ‘We need to go forward,’” Morris said. “And it was his children who integrated Meridian High School in the 1960’s.”

Henderson said he worked in the Civil Rights movement even though people tried to stop him. He said he was among those who founded the Head Start preschool program. He said blacks fought hard to gain the right to vote and young people should register to vote and appreciate the right they have been given.

• 11:05 a.m. — James Chaney and Fannie Mae Chaney gravesites at Okatibbee Missionary Baptist Church. As the sun beat down on the the more than 20 cars and two buses that made up the caravan, each took a moment to pay their respects to the Chaneys, who laid side-by-side. Fannie Mae Chaney, James’ mother, died May 22 in New Jersey. She moved to New Jersey after her son’s death.

• 12:30 p.m. — Rock Cut Road, Philadelphia. Now labeled as County Road 515. Louise Smith of Meridian sang several inspirational songs from the Civil Rights era. The road, which is just off Highway 19 North, was the site where Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were murdered. Their bodies were found weeks later buried in an earthen dam. They had been beaten and shot.

Tennessee residents Ash-Lee Henderson and Jared Story read excerpts from the book “We Are Not Afraid” by Seth Cagin and Phillip Gray. The book outlines the moments of the men’s deaths. Henderson read an excerpt explaining that a New York pathologist, Dr. David Spain, who was hired by COFO to perform autopsies on the bodies, had never seen bones so badly shattered as those belonging to the Civil Rights workers.

• 1 p.m. — Neshoba County Courthouse. Ben Chaney, brother of the slain Civil Rights worker, spoke briefly on the courthouse steps. He pointed out that the majority of the group was from outside Mississippi.

“Where do we go from here?,” Chaney said. “Mississippi is like an old house with new windows, new lights, but when you turn that doorknob, it’s the same old house. Nothing changes in this state unless people come from the outside.”

Ed Whitfield, an organizer of the event, spoke final words to more than 200 people on the grounds of the Neshoba County Courthouse.

“The extreme contradictions in Mississippi, the intense struggle, the incredible gains and the immense unresolved problems place Mississippi in the very center of the American dilemma,” Whitfield said. “We can no longer close our eyes to reality and pretend all is well.”

A conference followed at the Longdale Community Center on County Road 632 in Neshoba County and will continue today from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.