Mississippi Burning

The 1988 film Mississippi Burning is based on the actual 1964 slayings of civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwermer in Philadelphia, Mississippi. In the film, FBI agents played by Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe (based loosely on real agents) travel to Mississippi to investigate the parties responsible for the killings, believed to be members of the Ku Klux Klan.

The film was controversial upon its initial release, as many felt it took too many liberties with the actual events. Historian Howard Zinn noted that the film's depiction of heroic FBI agents bravely fighting for justice doesn't accurately reflect the bureau's real attitude towards the investigation at the time, which was more reluctant, and more biased against the civil rights workers.