Author. She is best-known for her book "Witness in Philadelphia" (1977), about the 1964 killings of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Earl Chaney in Mississippi. Mars repeatedly spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan and other forces oppressing the black population of east central part of the state. Testifying before a federal grand jury, she was a significant source of information in the F.B.I.'s investigation of the killings. As a result the Klan made threats against her life and she was subjected to other forms of harassment. She also stepped into the forefront of the battle for civil rights in her town, and allied herself with the Council of Federated Organizations, a consortium of civil rights groups. In 2005 Mars was in attendance in a Philadelphia courtroom when Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, and sentenced to 60 years in prison. She died of congestive heart failure at 83.
Author. She is best-known for her book "Witness in Philadelphia" (1977), about the 1964 killings of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Earl Chaney in Mississippi. Mars repeatedly spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan and other forces oppressing the black population of east central part of the state. Testifying before a federal grand jury, she was a significant source of information in the F.B.I.'s investigation of the killings. As a result the Klan made threats against her life and she was subjected to other forms of harassment. She also stepped into the forefront of the battle for civil rights in her town, and allied herself with the Council of Federated Organizations, a consortium of civil rights groups. In 2005 Mars was in attendance in a Philadelphia courtroom when Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, and sentenced to 60 years in prison. She died of congestive heart failure at 83.
Bio by: Elizabeth Reed
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