Frank Bailey is a fictional character portrayed by Michael Rooker in the 1988 film “Mississippi Burning.” He is one of the antagonistic characters, a composite of several real-life individuals who were involved in the violent opposition to the Civil Rights Movement in the South. In the film, he is depicted as a member of the Ku Klux Klan and is implicated in the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, an event that is central to the film’s plot.
The film “Mississippi Burning” is loosely based on the real-life case of the “Mississippi Burning” murders, also known as the Freedom Summer murders, the Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner murders, or the MIBURN case. The case involved the murder of three civil rights workers—James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner—in Neshoba County, Mississippi, during the summer of 1964. The three young men were working to register African-American voters as part of the Freedom Summer campaign when they were abducted and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
The FBI launched a major investigation, codenamed MIBURN (Mississippi Burning), which led to the discovery of the bodies of the three activists buried in an earthen dam. The investigation also exposed the collusion between members of the Klan and local law enforcement. In 1967, seven individuals were convicted on federal conspiracy charges related to the violation of the victims’ civil rights. However, none of the defendants were initially found guilty of murder.
The case had a significant impact on the nation, contributing to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It also brought national attention to the violent resistance to the Civil Rights Movement in the South and the need for federal intervention to protect the rights of African Americans.
It wasn’t until 2005 that the case saw a murder conviction. Edgar Ray Killen, a former Klan leader and preacher, was convicted of three counts of manslaughter on the 41st anniversary of the crimes. The conviction came after decades of campaigning by the victims’ families and civil rights activists, and it was seen as a belated step towards justice for the murders that had shocked the nation and galvanized the Civil Rights Movement.
