Mississippi burning

Scenes 1 through 4

1. 
   What happened to the missing boys? Explain what you saw in the opening sequence.
   
2. 
   The black people and the white people did lots of things separately. Can you name some of them?
   
3. 
   How did the local police react to the FBI agents?
   
4. 
   One of the FBI agents told a story about his father to explain why people are racist. Why did he think that they were racist?
   
5. 
   Are the black people in the film helpful towards the FBI agents? Why do you think this might be?
   
6. 
   Why do you think the FBI agents get their window broken and the black boy gets beaten up?
   

1. 
   Are the Mississippi townsfolk worried about the missing boys’ whereabouts?
   
2. 
   One lady says that the black folk in Mississippi have been treated fairly. Do you agree? Explain your answer.
   
3. 
   The local businessman said that he did not like Chinese or Black people because he wanted to keep America pure (white). Is this a fair reason to be a racist? Explain your answer.
   

1. 
   Why would the black boy who was beaten up not press charges? Why would his family not convince him to press charges?
   
2. 
   The black boy who decided to press charges was wearing a box on his head. Why?
   
3. 
   Where did the blacks and the whites sit in court?
   
4. 
   The judge decided that what the white men who had firebombed the black man’s house had done was wrong but that they were under pressure from “outside influences”. Was his decision right? Explain your answer
   
5. 
   How did the black community react to the judge’s decision? How would you have responded if you had been in that situation?
   
6. 
   Why was the black man hung?
   
7. 
   At the political meeting what were their reasons for not wanting to give black people equal rights?