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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com. It's June 15, 1963, in the city of Jackson, Mississippi.

John Doer, a 41-year-old lawyer, is one of the few white faces in a predominantly black procession of 5,000 mourners.

They're accompanying a hearse through the quiet streets, carrying the casket of civil

rights leader Megger Evers, who was assassinated in Jackson three days ago.

The marchers are all silent, except for the occasional sob of grief.

But as they near a predominantly white part of town, the number of police officers

lining the route increases, and the somber procession comes to a sudden stop. John pushes forward

through the crowd until he reaches the front and sees why the mourners have halted. The road

is blocked by police officers. Dogs strain at their

leashes and a fire truck idles behind the barricade ready to turn its hose on the mourners. As the

procession edges closer to the police lines, one of the officers swings his baton and catches

a mourner in the head. This assault sparks the rest of the officers to jump in,

and a black man screams as he's hit by the butt of a rifle

and is dragged behind the police line.

Fearing for their safety, other mourners near the front

try to get away from the police,

but they're pressed forward by the crowd behind,

and there's nowhere for them to go.

Some of the mourners fling bottles and rocks at the police as the melee grows,

...