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Biography/History:
Lawrence Rainey was born in Kemper or Neshoba County, Mississippi, on March 2, 1923. He quit school after the eighth grade to begin work as a mechanic. Rainey started his law enforcement career in 1957 as an officer with the Canton, Hinds County, Mississippi, police department. Two years later, Rainey killed an African American man; claiming that the man had been choking him. Rainey moved to Philadelphia, Neshoba County, Mississippi, where he worked for the city police department. In 1961, Rainey became a deputy with the Neshoba County sheriff's office. He killed another African American man in his custody. In January of 1964, Rainey assumed the office of sheriff of Neshoba County. He hired former Philadelphia fire chief Cecil Price as his deputy. Both Rainey and Price were later identified as members of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
On June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, were murdered on Highway 492 outside of Philadelphia. Sheriff Rainey was in Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, at the time of the murders. He and Price, who were the entire police force for the county, obstructed the subsequent FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) probe. Rainey and Price did not prevent the investigation, but they did not assist investigators, nor did they protect possible informants. Because Mississippi would not bring murder charges, Rainey, Price, and seventeen other men were charged federally with violating the civil rights of the three murdered men in the 1967 trial, U.S. v. Price, et al. Seven of the men, including Deputy Cecil Price, were convicted; their sentences ranged from three to ten years. Rainey, represented by James G. McIntyre, was acquitted. Rainey completed his term as sheriff in November of 1967.
Rainey attempted to get other jobs in law enforcement, but was unable to remain consistently employed; of note was a short period in 1974 when he was a security guard in a Meridian grocery store. While employed at the store, Rainey and Price filed unsuccessful identical $1.5 million libel suits against the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) Inc.; Capital Broadcasting Company of Jackson, Mississippi; Southern Television of Meridian, Mississippi; Columbus Television of Columbus, Lowndes County, Mississippi; and the producer of “Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the KKK.” Rainey claimed that when the movie aired, his workplace was threatened and he was unable to retain employment.
In March of 1986, Rainey began working at McDonald's Security Service in Meridian. The owner of the service was the Reverend Evan E. McDonald who was also a pastor at a church in Meehan, Lauderdale County, Mississippi. In 1989, People magazine published an article on the Mississippi Burning movie. The article mentioned that Rainey was working for an African American man. McDonald resigned his pastorate rather than fire Rainey.
Lawrence Rainey died of throat and tongue cancer on November 8, 2002, in Meridian. He was seventy-nine.
Scope and Content:
The Lawrence Rainey collection consists of correspondence, printed material, and miscellaneous items belonging to Lawrence Rainey, sheriff of Neshoba County, Mississippi, from 1963 to 1967, and the legal papers of James G. McIntyre, his attorney. The collection primarily covers the period from immediately after the 1964 murders of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, through the civil suits brought by Rainey and Price in 1975. The correspondence includes letters castigating and praising Rainey and his fellow defendants through illustrations, poetry, and newsclippings. Of interest are the greeting cards sent to Rainey during his 1967 criminal trial.
Series Identification:
This series contains personal letters, notes, greeting cards, postcards, and telegrams that were sent to Lawrence Rainey during the period between the investigation of the disappearance of Cheney, Schwerner, and Goodman and the subsequent conspiracy trial. The correspondence varies from letters of support to greeting cards of condemnation. The majority of the writers are anonymous: several are from outside the state of Mississippi.
Box 1, folders 1-24
Box 2, folders 1-19
The papers in the series are the legal documents Attorney James G. McIntyre filed on behalf of Lawrence Rainey and Cecil Ray Price. Price and Rainey sued three local stations as well as Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS) for their willful broadcast of “Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the KKK,” a film based on the Neshoba County murders. Other filings include motions to dismiss and protective orders.
Box 3, folders 1-12
This series contains newspapers, newsclippings, magazines, and pamphlets amassed by Lawrence Rainey. The newspapers and newsclippings from several cities, such as the Memphis Commercial Appeal, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the San Francisco Examiner cover the events in Neshoba County. Several of the pamphlets are publications of white supremacist groups, such as Save America, Inc., that were delivered to the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Office.
Box 1, folder 25 (reference photocopies)
Box 2, folders 20-23
Boxes 4-5
Box 6 (restricted originals)
This series is composed of financial records, a lawnmower manual, and a novelty flyer.
Box 2, folders 24-25
Box List:Folders 1-18: Correspondence, March-December, 1964
Folders 19-24: Correspondence: Empty Envelopes, June-December 1964; n.d.
Folder 25: Printed Material: Newsclippings, n.d. (reference photocopies)
Folders 1-14: Correspondence, January-December, 1965; n.d.
Folder 15: Letters and Postcards, n.d.
Folder 16: Telegrams, 1964-1965, n.d.
Folder 17: Postcards, 1960-1965; n.d.
Folder 18: Christmas cards, 1964.
Folder 19: Greeting cards, n.d.
Folder 20: Printed Material: Save America, Inc. Material, 1965; n.d.
Folders 21-22: Printed Material: Pamphlets and Loose Materials, 1963-1965; n.d.
Folder 23: Printed Material: Magazine articles, 1964-1965; n.d.
Folders 24-25: Miscellaneous Material, 1964-1965.
Folders 1-2: Manila Envelope
Folder 3: Lawrence A. Rainey v. JGM-1977 CBS, Inc. (1977) [1978]Folder 4: Loose Materials, 1975-1976
Folder 5: “Interrogation and Answers”, 1975-1976; n.d.
Folder 6: Loose Materials, 1975-1978; n.d.
Folder 7: “CBS and Q14’s Answers and Defenses to Declarations”, 1975
Folder 8: “Rainey-Motions to Dismiss, Protective Orders, etc.,” 1975; n.d.
Folder 9: Price, Cecil Ray vs. CBS, et al. (1975)
Folder 10-11: Rainey, Lawrence v. Channel 12 CBS, 1975; 1998; n.d.
Folder 12: 1965 Subpoena and Summons
Other Finding Aids Available:
Bibliography: