Price Chatham

Released
Date of birth:05. 06. 1931
Age:95
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1960s
State:Mississippi
Time Imprisoned:
1 Month
Support
Civil Rights
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
Incarcerated: Jun 2, 1961
Released: July 1961
Sentence: Jailed following his June 2, 1961 arrest and subsequently confined at Parchman. He conducted a hunger strike against segregation in custody. Released in July 1961; the previously recorded July 11 day remains unverified.
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Mississippi

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