Mississippi Burning: plot summary og historisk kontekst

Mississippi Burning – based on the Mississippi burnings caused by the KKK in 1964.

The movie Mississippi Burning stares two FBI agents, Agent Alan Ward and Agent Rupert

Anderson, who is played by Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman. They were sent from New

York to Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of 3 civil right activist. 2 white jews and

one black boy, who was charged with speeding the night of the disappearance. The town

where the FBI’s actions were made, was in Jessup County. The inhabitants of Jessup County

were in big resistance, as they got a lot of bad media attention and FBI agents storming the

town. The KKK was a nazi-group that became very active in Mississippi during the period of

the investigation. They killed black people and burned their homes, which resulted in the

black community feeling let down of the FBI. They didn’t want to tell FBI anything, because

then they would get attacked. Agent Alan Ward continued to call more and more agents to

search areas such as a big swamp and spy on suspects. Alan Ward refused to go by his

partner, Rupert Andersons, way as he wanted to break down the case himself. That decision