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What Is The Meaning Behind Mississippi Burning

Decent Essays

Within American history, the year 1964 stands out to the nation as the year that was faced with the civil rights movement. Altogether, with various events that occured over the course of the year, it caught the attention of many Americans and showed that progress was being made as well as there was hope that a country where all men are truly created equal could exist. The movie titled Mississippi Burning does an admirable job at revealing the internal battle that our nation was going through at this time and is an important film to be shown to young generations so that we are not doomed to repeat events of our past.
The film Mississippi Burning starts out by displaying how three Civil Rights Workers get tailed, caught, and murdered in the woods by members of the Ku Klux Klan. The movie reveals to viewers, through conversation, the clashing personalities of the two FBI agents, Agent Ward and Agent Anderson, who came to Mississippi to investigate the missing persons case of the three boys. It becomes obvious over the course of the film that the two agents do not exactly see eye to eye on how to operate the investigation, including tactics to get the information they need. In addition, unfortunately, the two agents find out pretty quickly that they are not welcome in the town, as it is essentially a community run by the KKK. Many of the businesses in the town, and even the police department are controlled by members of the Klan, making it a society full of racist hatred. The two agents, after not being able to get very far on their own, call for reinforcements to assist with finding information for their investigation. A large amount of FBI agents as well as numerous members of the Navy Reserve are sent to help in the search for the three missing boys. As the two agents get closer and closer to finding the truth about the murders, they are constantly surrounded by the Klan’s leaders including Clayton Townley and Deputy Clinton Pell. Agent Anderson, being originally from the South knows Mississippians’ view on African Americans and realizes that any white citizen would be scared to death at the sight of an African American having the upper hand over them and wanting revenge on members of the Klan. The two agents

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