What is “Mississippi Burning”?

“Mississippi Burning” was a trial on a case on the lynching of civil right activists in Neshoba

County, Mississippi.

Involvement

” Mississippi Burning” came about with the killing of

three civil right workers in Neshoba County,

Mississippi.

Killed- Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and

James Chaney

Killers- The KKK

Spark of a Flame..

The “Mississippi Summer Project” is what brought the three activists to the state of Mississippi. They spoke as a church of the name Mt. Zion Methodist Church in Neshoba County. Furious KKK members later in the week, came to the

church and burnt it to the ground, although Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman were

not there.

June 17, 1964

The return to the end..

After their CORE meeting in Ohio, the three activists

returned to the site of the burnt down church on their

way to Meridian Mississippi. There they

were jailed by KKK members and county

police.

Jail Time and Disappearing

That night the three men were released from jail.

They were chased down by the KKK and beaten. Shot in the head, they were buried

in an unearhtened dam. This action brought attention to

the FBI. An investigation was underway. The bodies were found three months later.

August 4, 1964

Arrest

Though 19 members confessed to the brutality and killing of the men, all charges

were dropped by Congressman of the State. The Grand Jury reinstated the sentences.

Those found guilty were sent to jail for 3-10 years

Cecil Price and Sheriff Rainy were the main men involved in

the “Mississippi Burning” trails. They were sent to

prison. In 1974, Cecil Price was released from prison.

Movie

In 1988 a movie came out depicting the “Mississippi Burning” trials. The movie literally named “Mississippi Burning” got rave revues

from publishers across the nation for its accuracy.

Movie Information

Directed by- Alan Parker

Starring- Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Francis

Macdormand, Brad Douriff

Oscar Winner

New York Times Review

THE NEW YORK TIMES January 8, 1989                 . . . . [Parker and Gerolmo] have created an unashamed, hugely effective if slick melodrama  of a brutality that does not, I am sure, overstate the conditions.  (Two years after the deaths of  Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, but before the trial of the accused civil rights violators, Dr. King visited Philadelphia, Miss., and found it "a terrible town, the worst I've seen.")  At the  center of the film is the serviceable if not exactly inspired conflict between two very different  kinds of F.B.I. agents.  Reduced to its superificial esentials, "Mississippi Burning" is a buddy film.  On the one side is Ward (Willem Dafoe), the clean-cut, by-the book, ethical F.B.I. agent from the North.  On the other side is Anderson (Gene Hackman), a renegade redneck  Mississipian, himself a former county sheriff and a man who is not above using dirty tricks in the cause of racial justice.                  It is this character that is the film's philosophical undoing, as well as it's remarkable dramatic core. . . .                                                                        Vincent Canby

Today

The “Mississippi Burning” trials occurred in the 1960’s

and have effected American’s ever since. Even

twenty years after they occurred a movie came out which may be viewed for generations to come in order for the incident is

never forgotten.

Resources Bradford, Barry. "Mississippi Burning." Home Page. Barry Bradford. Web. 02 May

2010. <http://www.mississippiburning.org/>.

Kemply, Rita. "'Mississippi Burning' (R)." Washingtonpost.com - Nation, World, Technology and Washington Area News and Headlines. 9 Dec. 1988. Web. 02 May 2010. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/mississippiburningrkempley_a0c9de.htm>.

Linder, Douglas O. "The Mississippi Burning Trial: United States vs. Cecil Price Et Al. (1967)." UMKC School of Law. Web. 02 May 2010. <http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/price&bowers/price&bowers.htm>.

"Mississippi Burning (1988)." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). IMBd.com Inc. Web. 02 May 2010. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095647/>.

"Mississippi Burning Trial: The Movie (1988)." UMKC School of Law. Web. 02 May 2010. <http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price&bowers/movie.html>.

Montaldo, Charles. "Mississippi Burning - The 'Mississippi Burning' Case." Crime and Punishment Home Page. Web. 02 May 2010. <http://crime.about.com/od/history/p/ms_burn.htm>.