HISTORICAL PERIOD: 1960s Civil Rights Movement
WHO’S IN THE FILM:
Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, FrancesMcDormand,
Brad Dourif, R. Lee Emery, Gailard Sartain, Michael Rooker,
Park Overall
DIRECTOR: Alan Parker
DATE MADE:
1988
RUNNING TIME: 127 minutes - color
PLOT SUMMARY:
Mississippi Burning recounts the murder of
three civil rights workers in Mississippi in
1964 and the subsequent investigation, trial
and outcomes. This film is based on actual
events, however characters names and some
details are fictionalized.
LEARNING STANDARDS: The learning standards for this film include, but are not limited to:
#1 Learners will be able to understand and
analyze the complex nature of cause and
effect, questioning what
factors cause events to unfold as they do.
#3 Learner will develop an understanding of
people in other times, both on their own
terms and in terms of present
perspectives.
#4 Learners will analyze how and why some things
change, while others persist.
They evaluate factors that
lead to change, the pace of change, and its impact.
They organize time periods
defined by patterns and turning points.
#5 Learners will learn about themselves
and other historical context by assessing their
roles as inheritors
of the past, players of the present, and shapers of the future.
#11 Learners will define many types of power by analyzing
how it is distributed, managed,
and negotiated, both
legitimately and illegitimately.
#23 Learners will explain how events that occur and
decisions that are made in one place
have an impact on
other people and places throughout the global community.
ACTIVITIES:
I. BEFORE VIEWING THE FILM:
SECTION 1: HISTORICAL INFORMATION:
1. What was the Civil Rights Movement?
2. What caused the Civil Rights Movement?
3. When did the Civil Rights Movement begin?
4. What were the results of the Civil Rights Movement
in the 1960s and
today?
SECTION 2: SETTING THE STAGE:
A. CHARACTERS: (List the main characters in the film.)
Mr. Andersen
Alan Ward
Sheriff Ray Stuckey
Deputy Clinton Pell
Mayor Tillman
Clayton Townley
Frank Bailey
Lester Cowens
Floyd Swilley
Wesley Cooke
Agent Bird
B. PLACES: (List the important places mentioned in the film.)
Mississippi
Jessup County
C. TERMS AND CONCEPTS: (List the terms/concepts students need to know.)
Martin Luther King
Ku Klux Klan
Freedom Riders
Grand Wizard
Civil Rights Workers
Grand Cyclops
NAACP
Segregation
Dry County
Burning Cross
Prejudice
II. VIEWING THE FILM:
A. VIEW THE FILM IN SEGMENTS:
We suggest that the instructors preview
the film
and select breaks in the film that are appropriate to the class.
NOTE: You may want to pause the film at times for clarification
when the story line
becomes confusing or when a pivotal event occurs.
B. RECAP: RECAP THE EVENTS OF THE SEGMENT
YOU HAVE JUST
SHOWN BY USING
QUESTION PROMPTS:
1.
What is happening, or what just happened?
2.
What do you think about what you saw?
3.
What do you think is going to happen next?
C. ACTIVITIES BETWEEN SEGMENTS: (May be done during or after class)
1.
Make and document predictions about what’s going to happen next.
2.
Word search activities
3.
Map activities - find Mississippi
4.
Fill in a timeline for the events of the Civil Rights Movement in
the 1960s.
5.
Fill in timeline of the events in the segment you just saw.
III. PUTTING IT TOGETHER
A. THE 5Ws AND MORE: Suggested questions for which MISSISSIPPI
BURNING
which may be asked during the viewing of
the film and during teacher facilitated
discussion after viewing the film.
1.
Where did the film take place?
2.
When did the film take place?
3.
How did the beginning of the film make you feel? What techniques
did
the filmmaker use to make you feel that way?
4.
Why were the three young men being chased? By whom did you thin
they were being chased? Why did the boys stop?
5.
What was the attitude of the men who stopped the three boys?
6.
What is the Ku Klux Klan?
7.
Where was Mr. Anderson from? Who did Anderson and Ward work for?
8.
What was the police department’s attitude toward Mr. Anderson and
Mr. Ward?
9.
What was the relationship between Anderson and Ward?
10. In
the restaurant, what mistakes did Mr. Ward make?
11. Why
did the black man Ward was talking to move his seat?
12. Why
did the Civil Rights workers go to Mississippi?
13. Why
was the church burned?
14. Why
wouldn’t the local black people talk to the FBI?
15. What
two incidents occurred that showed the feeling of the local whites
toward the two FBI agents?
16. The
Barbershop: Explain the Mississippi thinking toward “Colored people”.
17. The
Hairdressing Salon: Who was the hairdresser’s husband?
18. Who
was the person that got dumped in the street?
19. What
did the agents find in the swamp? In what condition?
20. How
did the whites retaliate to the increase in FBI agents?
21. What
was the attitude of whites toward the missing boys? (TV interviews)
22. The
Reporter’s scene: What was the Sheriff’s attitude toward the NAACP
and Civil Rights?
23. Where
did Aaron tell Anderson and Ward to start investigating?
24. How
did you think Anderson felt towards Mrs. Pell?
25. What
did the 3 fingers in belt mean? Who held their fingers in this way?
26. Why
did Mr. Anderson go back to talk to Mrs. Pell ?
27. The
Church scene: Who was waiting for the congregation when they left the
church? Why did you think they attacked them? What did they
threaten
to do to Aaron and why?
28. How
did the white people in the TV interviews stereotype the blacks?
29. The
Clayton Townley interview: What is his attitude toward Jews, Catholics,
Negroes? Why don’t white Mississippians accept these groups?
30. What
was the social club? What did Frank admit he would do?
31. The
March: What do you think Mrs. Pell told Mr. Anderson?
32. What
did the little boy witness when the blue pickup truck pulled up in
front of the house? Why was the boy wearing a box? What was
the result
of their trial? How did the blacks react to the verdict?
33. What
two things did Mrs. Pell tell Agent Anderson when he went to visit her
at night?
34. Why
did Mrs. Pell get beaten? Who did it?
35. What
was the turning point in the film for Anderson and Ward?
36. How
did Anderson and Ward get the truth about the murders and from whom?
37. What
charges did the FBI bring against the white men?
38. Who
called the meeting in the church? Who do you think will talk?
39. How
did they get Lester to cooperate? Name two incidents.
40 What
did Anderson do to Deputy Pell?
41. What
were the results of the trial of the seven murderers?
42. What
did Mrs. Pell say she would do? Why?
B. THEMES AND CONCEPTS: Teacher may
initiate discussion from the
areas listed below
contingent upon learner interest.
1.
Discuss prejudice, segregation, racism, hate crimes
2.
Discuss stereotypes and incidents in the film
3.
Civil Rights Movement - What civil rights did Afro-Americans want?
4.
Relate the events in the film to present day examples of discrimination,
racism, hate crimes
IV. THE FUN STUFF:
The following activities may be used at any point during this unit.
1.
Research topics using the library: KKK, Civil Rights Movement,
Freedom Rider, Martin Luther King, FBI, James Meredith,
J. Edgar Hoover.
2.
Create a word search using words from the film: segregation, Klu
Klux Klan,
Civil Rights, Mississippi, Cross, etc.
3. Write news article about the events in the film.
4. Create a timeline for the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement.
5.
Using the encyclopedia, multi-media encyclopedia, Time-Life or othe
appropriate resource, find information about men and women of the
Civil Rights Movement.
6. Research gospel music and singers.