Mississippi Burning

Three American civil rights' workers, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, were shot at close range on the night of June 21–22, 1964 by members of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. They were targeted because their jobs were to register african americans to vote. This incident caused a national uproar and caused the FBI to get involved because the state of Mississippi wasn't trying to get involved in the case because they still weren't on board with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The movie Mississippi Burning is loosely based on this story. It is directed by Alan Parker and was released in 1988. The films point of view is the FBI agents, played by Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe. Although the film is quite graphic, it is a must see for our class. It gives a real life, firsthand view, of what it was like being an african american in the south. It also shows the extremes the KKK went to to exclude the black man from society, and that they were willing to murder to get their point across.