Agent Rupert Anderson
Anderson is an FBI agent sent to Jessup County, Mississippi, in order to investigate the murder of three Civil Rights workers. He is a man who gets his man, and is relentless in the pursuit of justice as he uses any means necessary to get it.
Agent Alan Ward
Ward is an FBI agent and Anderson's partner. He accompanies Anderson to Mississippi where he investigates the murders of the three Civil Rights workers. He is a man of integrity and is willing to find any way of getting the truth in order that true justice would be afforded to those who lost their lives at the hands of the hatred of the KKK.
Mrs. Pell
Pell is the wife of the Deputy of the town. She is the first to give truthful information to Anderson and Ward which allows them to begin to find the murderers. She is beaten by her husband for this, and eventually must pick up the pieces of her shattered life, which she does by choosing to rebuild it right where she is rather than leaving Jessup County.
Mayor Tilman
Tilman is the Mayor of Jessup County, Mississippi. He is of little help to the FBI agents as he is intertwined as a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He becomes useful when he is threatened with torture after being kidnapped by embedded FBI agents to whom he gives detailed information as to who was involved in the murders. He dies of an apparent suicide at the end of the film.
Sheriff Stuckey
Stuckey is the Sheriff of Jessup County and a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He participated in the plot and murder of the three Civil Rights workers and seeks to cover up the crimes in order to protect his fellow Klan members. He is charged with murder, but in the end is acquitted of his crimes.
Lester Cowens
Cowens lives in Jessup County and is a member of the Klan. He is interrogated by the FBI and later gives the key confession that allows the FBI to get charges brought against the killers. The agents are able to get his confession because they stage an attempted murder dressed as members of the Klan coming after Cowens at his home.
