NANO-ck

Mise-à-jour le 25 March 2024, 4 minutes de lecture

Film : Mississippi Burning (Alan Parker 1988)

Questions

1. When do the events take place?

Mississippi in 1964

2. Why did the civil rights workers go to Mississippi?

They came to register black voters and to fight against racial segregation. They had the mission to investigate on 3 missing people, including one black child.

3. Who was dumped in the swamp and why?

Three civil rights workers were dumped in the swamp by the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). The KKK attempted to intimidate civil rights workers in order to make them leave Mississippi, but the more civil rights workers and FBI agents were intimidated, the more people it took to Mississippi for this investigation : “Whatever it takes”.

4. What was the goal of the KKK in the film?

In the film, the KKK had three main goals :

• Continuing segregation, by burning places owned by black people, and assaulting black people.
• Intimidating anyone who would provide clues to the FBI agents
• Intimidating civil right workers.

5. What buildings were burnt on the film?

In the film, most buildings were burnt by the KKK (a few of them were burnt by black people). Black churches were assaulted a lot, but also many houses that would be linked to black people, or to someone accepting to reply to the FBI’s investigation.

6. What is the main plot of the film?

The plot is based around two major characters being an FBI agent and an ancient Sheriff from Mississippi. The FBI agent has a nearly infinite power on his mission, he has the ability to bring 100 people from one day to another, or to buy a motel for “whatever it takes”, but he also is very attached to following the rules, while the Sheriff prefers to use more radical, but effective methods. These two agents are here to find out what happened to the 3 missing civil rights workers, and to help register black voters. But their investigation is highly

7. Who were the boys killed at the beginning and what was their history?

They were three civil rights workers, and were killed by the KKK (and members of the Sheriff Office) because of their activities including black people in society.

8. What was the summer of 1964 in Mississippi called?

It was also called “Freedom Sumer”/”Mississippi Summer Project”. This period was marked by a major work on civil rights, and efforts in including black people in society, by restricting segregation, and providing facilities to vote for black people.

9. How were the African Americans in the South discriminated against?

In the film, we can see many ways in which African Americans were discriminated. In the opening, we can see two sinks, one for black and one for white, and it was the same in the restaurant a bit later, where spaces were clearly delimited. Moreover, black people were segregated in most social contexts such as education, voting, puclic facilities…

10. How does the movie portray SNCC? the black community? the Civil Rights Movement?

The film portrays the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comittee) as a major participant of the civil rights movement. It portrays the black community as upset of the violence against black people, and attempting to gather more and more power, while they still respect everyone, and even members of the KKK (such as Lester, that was dropped in a settlement for black people, but managed to go away without being assaulted). In the same manner, civil rights movements and riots from black people were respected by everyone, and accepted.