The fact that the local police authorities and local governing officials (like the mayor) were all of the same mindset as the perpetrators and that a deputy sheriff was involved first-hand in the murders virtually ensured that the crimes would remain unsolved unless the investigating authorities deviated from the normal guidelines for criminal investigations.
Nevertheless, the specific tactics used by the FBI agents were themselves criminal actions that, in other circumstances and certainly nowadays, would have resulted in charges of official misconduct, criminal prosecutions of the agents involved ironically) for civil rights violations, as well as civil claims against the agents personally and the Bureau. The agents illegally abducted the mayor and terrorized him with the implied threat of castration. They coerced information from the deputy's wife, (who was not involved at all in the crimes), exposing her to grave danger and causing her to be subjected to a beating…...

Mississippi Burning
The 1988 film Mississippi Burning depicts the total infestation of Mississippi government and civic society by racist rednecks. The Ku Klux Klan serves as a quasi-governmental and paramilitary authority that defies federal law. Their total infiltration into local governments makes the KKK an incredibly dangerous and powerful organization.

Civil ights legislation presents real threats to Klan authority. The KKK have no respect for the mandate of the federal government and are more than willing to use tactics like murder, assault, kidnapping, and terrorism in order to consolidate and maintain power. Their murdering of three civil rights activists transcends the gamut of ordinary crime and places the act squarely under the rubric of domestic terrorism. The KKK finds any dissenting opinions to be threatening, which is why Clinton Pell and the other Klansmen kill the civil rights activists.

Given the extraneous circumstances under which the KKK operates in the United States, the…...

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References

King, W. (1988). Mississippi Burning. The New York Times. Movie Review. Retrieved online:  http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=940DE2DA1F30F937A35751C1A96E948260 

Parker, A. (1988). Mississippi Burning. Feature film.

Membership in the KKK implies a support for hate crime; membership in the KKK is equivalent to membership in a domestic terrorist group. No Klan member can plead ignorance about the motives and tactics used by the organization. The organization exists to perpetuate a culture of white supremacy, by whatever means possible. Using violence, intimidation, infiltration of law enforcement, and conspiracy all point to terrorist acts. The KKK is highly organized and systematic, designed with clear motives in mind. One of the reasons why Lester Cowans becomes such a significant character in the film is because he is among the members who does not participate in the murder but whose membership in the Klan becomes crucial to the FBI's case.
The FBI uses ethically questionable tactics in Mississippi Burning. In one of the strongest scenes of the movie, Agent Rupert Anderson tortures one of the prime suspects in the case.…...

Mississippi urning is an evocative movie that arouses horror over racial hatred. In fact, Director Alan Parker, in an interview, stated that the film's objective was precisely to "...cause them to react...because of the racism that's around them now..." (King, 1988, para.7). Parker does this by questioning the origins of the hatred through the characters in the film. Ward, the by the book FI agent, expresses it eloquently when he wonders, "Where does it come from, all this hatred?" (Mississippi urning)
One clear implication made by the film is that racism is perpetuated by the ignorant, as evidenced by its depiction of rednecks who, blindly adopting the racist attitude of their forefathers, resort to violence to keep the black community repressed: "These people crawled out of the sewers, Mr. Ward....' Gerolmo attempts a quick-fix enlightenment, blaming poverty and superstition....' (Kempley, 1988. para. 6,10.)

The film further traces the origins of prejudice in…...

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Bibliography

Web Site

Ebert, R. (1988, December 9.) Mississippi Burning. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September, 2003, from the Chicago Sun-Times Web site:  http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1988/12/328325.html 

King, W. (1988, December 4). Fact vs. Fiction in Mississippi. The New York

Times. Retrieved September 5, 2003, from The New York Times Web site: http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=Mississippi%20BURNING%20%28MOVIE%29%20

The efforts of the FBI to solve this case were certainly in the greater good, and they did solve the case, even though the trial was a mockery. It seems the FBI could have done more to have the case moved to a more neutral location to help ensure a fair trial, which certainly did not happen. Indeed, the FBI gave high priority to the case, and even opened an office in Mississippi during the investigation (Editors). It is difficult to see how they could have done more. Not all of their decisions were ethical, but neither was the decision to murder three young men simply because of their convictions.

Was every action ethical? No, they literally paid for confessions and the safety of those who confessed. However, they were dealing with terrorists, and to reach them, they had to think like them, act like them, and do whatever they could…...

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References

Editors. (2006). Famous American trials: U.S. Vs. Cecil Price, et al. Retrieved from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Web site: April 2007.http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price&bowers/price&bowers.htm2

Mississippi Burning (1988). Dir. Alan Parker. Perf. Gene Hackman, William Dafoe. Hollywood: Orion Pictures.

" The rebel army thought nothing of stealing food and good drinking water from the citizens of Vicksburg. The rebel army authorities put 100 men in charge of securing homes and lives, but "over seventy-five of the men selected" for the policing duty were Creoles who spoke little or no English, and the troops pretty much took what they wanted. Many people became refugees and moved into tent cities outside the range of the Union guns. "There was something tangible about stealing a pig or helping oneself to a buck of water," alker explained on page 123.
Prices for food and other necessary items went through the roof during the build-up to the battle. Brandy was $40 a gallon on December 3; on December 29, "when Sherman was knocking on the gates of the city," brandy went up to $60 a gallon (p. 128). On December 20, the Vicksburg City Council…...

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Works Cited

Arnold, James R. Grant Wins the War: Decision at Vicksburg. New York: John Wiley & Sons,

Confederate Military History, Vol. 7, Chapter IX. "The Vicksburg Campaign." The Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 - July 4, 1863). Retrieved 23 Nov. At  http://www.civilwarhome.com/siegeofvicksburg.htm .

Faust, Patricia L. "The Battle of Vicksburg." Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War. Retrieved 20 Nov. 2006 at  http://www.civilwarhome.com/battleofvicksburg.htm .

Grant, Ulysses S. "The Vicksburg Campaign." The Siege of Vicksburg. Retrieved 22 Nov. 2006 at

Roll Thunder
Born in Jackson, Mississippi in 9143, Mildred Taylor was no stranger to racism. Discrimination pervaded everyday life in the segregated south. Almost as soon as Mildred was born, her parents ilbert Lee and Deletha Marie Taylor moved to Ohio: part of the great migration of Africa-Americans.

Yet in spite of moving, the family returned to visit friends and family. Staying in contact with her roots led Mildred Taylor to a career in storytelling. "The telling of family stories was a regular feature of Taylor family gatherings. Family storytellers told about the struggles relatives and friends faced in a racist culture, stories that revealed triumph, pride, and tragedy," (Crowe). hile visiting her family, Taylor learned about her ancestral roots and how slavery played a major part in forming the personal and collective identities of African-Americans like herself.

Back in Toledo, Taylor attended the integrated Scott High School and graduated in 1961. She…...

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Works Cited

Crowe, Chris. "Mildred D. Taylor." The Mississippe Writers Page. Retrieved:  http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/taylor_mildred/ 

Taylor, Mildred. Quoted in the Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. Retrieved online:  http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,0_1000031974,00.html 

2 Taylor, Mildred. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. New York: Puffin/Penguin, 1976.

They were released only to be followed on the highway and shot dead.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy who was informed of the disappearance of the three men, arranged for Joseph Sullivan of the FBI to go to ississippi and investigate the situation together with FBI eridian-based agent John Proctor. Their findings would be splendidly presented in Court by John Doar, who prosecuted the federal case. Local officials were not sympathetic with the case and showed little interest in finding the ones responsible for the murders. Nevertheless, federal interest in the case was overwhelming, thus the investigation was impressive and finally led to the discovery of the killers.

The population of the country was reluctant to offering any kind of information regarding the killings; in fact, it was children who gave the investigators the most clues. The two agents used tactics such as the observation of the sheriff's behavior as he was…...

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Mississippi Burning." Spartacus Educational. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAburning.htm

Mississippi Burning." AfricanAmericans.com.  http://www.africanamericans.com/CivilRightsSlaying.htm 

The Ku Klux Klan: A Hundred Years of Terror." Indiana University: Southern Poverty Law Center, 2000.  http://www.iupui.edu/~aao/kkk.html

Had the court applied consistency in their different rulings to local hate crimes, this case would have been settled in the lower court. As the previous decisions that Mitchell was using to justify his words; were clearly in appropriate decisions made by the court that did not protect free speech. Instead, it enabled someone to be a racist, because they could hide behind the First Amendment. It is through examining the Supreme Court case Wisconsin vs. Mitchell; in this light that highlights the overall complexity faced by various municipalities in regards to hate crimes ordinances.
ibliography

arclay vs. Florida. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Center. 2010. 28 Feb. 2010

Dawson vs. Delaware. Cornell Law. 2010. 28 Feb. 2010

Haupt vs. United States. Find Law. 2020. 28 Feb. 2010

New York vs. Ferber. C. 2009. 28 Feb. 2010

R.A.V. Vs. St. Paul. Cornell Law. 2010. 28 Feb. 2010

Wisconsin vs. Mitchell. Cornell Law.…...

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Bibliography

Barclay vs. Florida. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Center. 2010. 28 Feb. 2010

Dawson vs. Delaware. Cornell Law. 2010. 28 Feb. 2010

Haupt vs. United States. Find Law. 2020. 28 Feb. 2010

New York vs. Ferber. BC. 2009. 28 Feb. 2010

"
The Aftermath

Uncle Tom characters were common in both white and black productions of the time, yet no director before Micheaux had so much as dared to shine a light on the psychology that ravages such characters. By essentially bowing to the two white men, Micheaux implied that Old Ned was less than a man; an individual whittled down to nothing more than yes-man and wholly deprived of self-worth. At this point in the history of black films, with some of the most flagrant sufferings of blacks exposed to the American public, the only logical path forward that African-Americans could take was to begin making cogent demands to improve their collective social situation.

Slowly, black characters in film took on greater and more significant roles in film. Sidney Poitier was one of the most powerful film stars of the mid twentieth century. In roles like the 1950 film by director Joseph L.…...

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Reference List

Finlayson, R. (2003). We Shall Overcome: The History of the American Civil Rights

Movement. Lerner Publications Company, Minneapolis, MN.

King, Jr., M. And Jackson, J. (1963). Why We Can't Wait. Signet Classic, New York,

NY.

Mis) representations of African-Americans in film:
From the Birth of a Nation onward

Recently, the Academy of Motion Pictures awarded 12 Years a Slave the title of Best Picture of the year. However, it is important to remember that the development of American cinema, racism, and the perpetuation of African-American stereotypes in film has a long and ignoble history. In the essay "The Good Lynching and Birth of a Nation: Discourses and aesthetics of Jim Crow," historian Michele Faith allace examines how one of the great silent film epics directed by cinematic master D.. Griffith consciously and subconsciously validated hegemonic racial ideologies. allace argues that when cinema was in its infancy, although African-Americans were portrayed on screen less frequently than whites, they were not addressed in the same derogatory manner as characterized the Griffith epic and Griffith's masterpiece set the tone for decades afterward. "The film's continued notoriety challenges all our…...

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Works Cited

Ebert, Roger. "The Birth of a Nation movie review." Roger Ebert Reviews. 30 Mar 2003

[4 Mar 2014]  http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-birth-of-a-nation-1915 

Gussow, Adam. Seems like murder: Southern violence and the blues tradition. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Nationalization Era
3. What was "white backlash"? Give an example of an event that demonstrates "white backlash" and why.

“White backlash” refers to the antagonistic, often violent response of white supremacists to civil rights and social justice. Although the term might apply especially well to the 1960s, the era in which President Johnson passed the landmark Civil Rights Act, white backlash can easily be traced back to the Reconstruction Era and the rise of the KKK. Rather than welcome the potential for an egalitarian and harmonious society, white supremacists clung to racist beliefs and used whatever means possible to retain political and social hegemony. Any resistance to positive social change related to racial parity, social justice, and civil rights can be considered “white backlash.”

In the 1960s, white backlash took on new forms. As legislation at the federal level turned the tide against white supremacy throughout the nation, groups like the KKK once…...

This feeling of anger and resentment is effectively illustrated through the conflict between Abner and the Negro, De Spain's helper.
In this conflict, Abner is seen resisting the Negro's attempt to stop him from trespassing De Spain's home. Evidently, the Negro's status in life is much better than Abner, who has to toil very hard in order for him and his family to survive everyday. This fact infuriates Abner, and his resentment against the Negro's condition in life is reflected in his hateful statement about his poverty and De Spain's seemingly unfair status as a wealthy man: "Pretty and white, ain't it?...That's sweat. Nigger sweat. Maybe it ain't white enough yet to suit him. Maybe he wants to mix some white sweat in it" (175). This statement is Abner's own way of protesting against his condition in life, a bitterness that reflects not only class conflict between the wealthy and…...

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Bibliography

Fox, R. (1998). A companion to American thought. MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Horton, M. (2000). "Balzacian evolution and the origin of the Snopeses." Southern Literary Journal, Vol. 33, Issue 1.

Kartiganer, D. (1997). Faulkner in cultural context. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi.

Krevling, M. (1998). Inventing Southern literature. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi.

' But now he said nothing" (Faulkner). In contrast, the Younger family members also grow and change. Most notably, Walter Lee takes on the role of leader in the family, and makes the right decision for the rest of his family members. Critic Domina notes, "He must become the acknowledged head of his family, and he must also interact with other adult males as an equal" (Domina 113). These two characters gain personal growth and awareness, and the two stories' conclusions depend on this growth and awareness. The young boy will probably never see his dysfunctional family again, while the Youngers will probably face more discrimination and hatred. However, they have both attained their own measure of happiness, and both stories end on a somewhat hopeful note. Critic Ford continues, "Sarty will survive 'the terrible handicap of being young,' will surpass his beleaguered childhood and mature into a worthy human…...

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References

Cooper, David D. "Hansberry's a Raisin in the Sun." Explicator 52.1 (1993): 59-61.

Domina, Lynn. Understanding a Raisin in the Sun a Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.

Faulkner, William. "Barn Burning." Northern Kentucky University. 2007. 18 July 2007.  http://www.nku.edu/~peers/barnburning.htm 

Ford, Marilyn Claire. "Narrative Legerdemain: Evoking Sarty's Future in 'Barn Burning'." The Mississippi Quarterly 51.3 (1998): 527.

Nelson's violent images call upon the reader to behold the corpse of Till, forcing the reader into a state of seismic cultural shock, as America has long been eager to forget its racist legacy (Harold, 2006, p.263). Trethewey's first lines of her book are gentler, but there is always the urge to remember: "Truth be told, I do not want to forget anything of my former life" (Trethewey, p.1)
The calls her poetic collection an act of memory "Erasure, those things that get left out of the landscape of the physical landscape, things that aren't monumented or memorialized, and how we remember and what it is that we forget. I wanted to kind of restore some of those narratives, so those things that are less remembered (Brown, 2007). Her use of the sonnet form over her cycle of poems is not as perfectly consistent as Nelson's, but repetition and remembrance…...

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Works Cited

Black Soldiers in Blue: African-American Troops in the Civil War Era. Edited by John

David Smith. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Brown, Jeffery. "Pulitzer Prize Winner Trethewey Discusses Poetry Collection."

Transcript of Online New Hour. 25 Apr 2007. 6 Jun 2007.  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june07/trethewey_04-25.html