Three Chicago high school students are being championed for publicizing the 1964 murder of three civil rights activists and helping lead authorities to suspect Edgar Ray Killen.

Teenagers Sarah Siegel, Allison Nichols and Brittany Saltiel worked for more than a year on a 10-minute documentary about the killings, which led to a congressional resolution last June, calling for federal prosecutors to reopen the case.

Their project included a rare phone interview with Killen, conducted by their teacher.

Killen, a reputed member of the Ku Klux Klan, pleaded not guilty in a Mississippi court Friday to charges he murdered the three civil rights workers 41 years ago, two of whom were from New York.

Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, both from Manhattan, were in Mississippi volunteering to help blacks register to vote on Father's Day at the time when they were shot to death, along with another volunteer, James Chaney. At the time, the three men were on their way to investigate a church fire.

The story was also dramatized in the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning."

"The three of us really didn't believe that we could actually be a small part of effecting so much change," said student Saltiel.

"They just wanted to help out. They stood up for what they believed in, and it was just an incredible display of courage on their part," said student Siegel.

The students say as a result of their project, they developed meaningful ties with the victims' families, who call the girls "superheroes."

Goodman's mother Carolyn is 89 and still lives in Manhattan. She spoke to NY1 a few months ago about the day her son told her he wanted to go to Mississippi.

"All these things have gone through my mind so many times. Suppose we said, 'No, you can't go.' What would I have felt like?" Goodman told NY1 at the time. "All along we said, 'Terrible, terrible, terrible,' and then we said, 'No you can't.' I would've maybe suffered from guilt all my life."

As for those involved in the murders, Goodman said she's not looking for revenge, she's looking for justice.

Killen is being held without bail pending another hearing next Wednesday.