Price Chatham

Released
Date of birth:05. 06. 1931
Age:95
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1960s
State:Mississippi
Support
Civil Rights Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
Price Chatham

Biography

Price Chatham was a Freedom Rider reportedly born on June 5, 1931 in New Gulf, Texas — the Freedom Rides Museum identifies his birth there; East Rockaway, Long Island was where he was living, not where he was born. He worked in the motion-picture industry before joining the rides. Arrested on June 2, 1961 at the Jackson, Mississippi Trailways terminal, he was sent to the Parchman state penitentiary, where he carried on a hunger strike lasting approximately twenty-four days protesting the segregation of Black and white riders within the prison. A contemporary report indicates he was released around July 11, 1961; that date is entered as probable, pending the prison discharge register. No reliable date of death has been found.

Case

Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman)
Charges: Breach of the peace — Freedom Ride arrival at the Jackson Trailways terminal, June 2, 1961.
Arrested: Jun 2, 1961
Released: Jul 11, 1961
Sentence: Jailed and sent to Parchman, where he conducted a hunger strike of approximately twenty-four days against the segregation of riders within the prison. A contemporary report indicates release around July 11, 1961 — entered as probable, not fully verified; the prison discharge register is still needed for absolute confirmation.
Convicted: Yes — the Jackson Freedom Rides breach-of-peace prosecution
Institution State: Mississippi

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