This scene shows "Anderson" in a speakeasy with members of the Klan. It depicts a rocky relationship between "Anderson" and the Klan members. However, in actuality, Agent John Proctor cultivated friendships with the many different types of people he encountered through his job. He is quoted saying, ""I'm not a hero, I did my job." If Wayne Roberts, the gunman, "walked in right now, he'd come over and shake my hand."
This clips shows Deputy "Clinton Pell's" wife releasing the information as to where to bodies were hidden. In reality, the confession of where the bodies were located came from a $30,000 pay off to a Klan informant who is referred to as "Mr. X". The screenwriter of "Mississippi Burning", Chris Gerolmo, said, "the fact that no one knew who Mr. X, the informant, was, left that as a dramatic possibility for me, in my Hollywood movie version of the story. That's why Mr. X became the wife of one of the conspirators. That's it- we're making up a story about that facts."
This scene is shown at the beginning of the film where the three civil rights activists are driving back to the CORE office in Meridian when three cars begin to pursue them. After realizing one of the cars was a cop, they pulled off onto a dirt road where members of the KKK step out of the vehicles, confronting the civil rights members. Schwerner and Goodman were sitting in the front and Chaney in the back. They were then killed in the car. What really happened is Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman were originally arrested under the charges of the breaching of peace while visiting Neshoba County for the investigation of the burning of the Mount Zion Church. Later that night they were released from custody. In actuality, Chaney was driving and the other two were sitting in the backseat. Before they could reach the safety of the county line they were picked up again by Deputy Price. He put the three men into his vehicle and delivered them to member of the KKK where they were killed on a dirt turn off called Rock Cut Road.
This clip is showing one of the many civil rights marches that occurred during this time period. It shows "Agent Anderson" marching alongside many of the black members of the community. The main falsification in this scene is the number of marchers. The movie made it seem as if there were only several dozen marching, when in reality, the majority of the black community came together to march. Also, an FBI agent would have never marched with the activists, as many of the agents were local and still believed in segregation.
This shows a black FBI agent interrogating the mayor of Neshoba County to get a confession about who was there when the three boys were killed. In reality, back in 1964, there were no black FBI agents. At the time "Mississippi Burning" was made, there was an assumption that the Colombo Crime Family owed the FBI a favor, resulting in Sir Parker's addition of this kind of scare tactic. This was later proven to be true. The FBI did actually receive a confession with the help of Gregory Scarpa, a member of the Colombo Crime Family. He reportedly put a gun in the mouth of a Klan member, therefore receiving the confession and location of the missing bodies.
