Mississippi Burning - Definition and Overview

Mississippi Burning is a 1988 fact-based film which tells the story of U.S. vs Cecil Price et al., the famous "Mississippi Burning" Trial. The movie focuses on two FBI agents investigating the murders of three civil rights workers, based on the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner in Neshoba County, Mississippi on Sunday, June 21, 1964.

It stars Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif, R. Lee Ermey and Gailard Sartain. The movie was written by Chris Gerolmo and directed by Alan Parker. It won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Gene Hackman), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Frances McDormand), Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Sound.

The film has been criticized by many, including historian Howard Zinn, for its fictionalization of history. While FBI agents are presented as heroes who descend upon the town by the hundreds, in reality the FBI and the Justice Department refused to protect civil rights workers and protesters and often witnessed their beatings without intervening.

In 2005, 80-year-old Edgar Ray Killen was arrested for the killings.

See also

• James Eastland
• Judge William Cox

External link

• Federal Bureau of Intimidation by Howard Zinn (http://mediafilter.org/MFF/FBI.html)
• James Earl Chaney Foundation (http://jecf.org/)
• New arrest in 1964 civil rights murders (http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/07/mississippi.rights/index.html) (CNN.com)