Happy birthday to Don McLean. 63 today. Though the song is about the deaths of Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper, they say that the "drove the Chevy to the levee" lyric refers to the 1964 Mississippi Burning murder of three African American civil rights activists by members of the KKK.
CORRECTION: Thanks for the heads up. It was three civil rights workers, yes, but only one of the victims was an African American.