Freedom Summer (2014)

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Freedom Summer was released on January 17, 2014, in the USA. The American film was produced by Firelight Films. The film was directed by Stanley Nelson. The movie was displaying the establishment of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party when 700 student activists collaborated through segregation[1].

Plot

Freedom Summer Project in Mississippi[2]

In 1964, fewer than 7% of African Americans were registered as voters in Mississippi, compared with 50 to 70% in other southern states. In many rural counties, African Americans made up the majority of the population, and the segregationist white council was prepared to use whatever means necessary to keep African Americans out of the elections and expelled African Americans from a position. For years, local civil rights activists had proposed methods to register voters increase among African Americans though mostly unsuccessful. The complicated trial guidelines were assured to keep those who chose to vote off the rolls. In 1964, a new scheme was drawn up by Bob Moses, a local secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). For ten weeks, white students from the north joined local civil activists in a huge effort that did what had previously been unimaginable: drive the media and the federals to take action for the shocking violence and injustice in Mississippi[3].

Black Empowerment

Students who were black and white outside of Mississippi were aiming to come to Mississippi to change voting rights in Mississippi, not for a moment thinking about the skin color they have. A former member of the SNCC said she and her colleagues at the SNCC were "young and stupid" - a combined blessing - for their limited sense of the dangers involved. Even so, these 700 student volunteers worked together to register African American voters in fiercely segregationist Mississippi. The effort paid off when President Johnson was required a year later to sign the Voting Rights Act, which ended the policy designed to disempower African American voters[4]. In the end, this film is a poignant memento of the painful but immensely valuable path to attain freedom and quality that can be done by putting aside everyone's ego and collaborate together[5].

Controversy

In the film, the former White Citizens' Council member, William Scarborough claims that the Ku Klux Klan is not needed because the council controls everything. When 700 students got into Mississippi, one of them reported that when they came to the “Welcome to the Mississippi" sign, two waiting patrol cars followed their bus. Three volunteers later left campus to go to the state to investigate a fire in the church. These three volunteers disappeared and were founded dead. Not only that, the film describes how moderate white voices were brutally silenced in Mississippi. The film also uses recordings of President Lyndon B. Johnson who were caught on tape with hatred and a strong desire to suppress the success of SNCC. At last, 35 churches were burnt and destroyed, also 70 African American businesses, homes, and community centers were burned due to this Mississippi Summer Freedom Project. Furthermore, the activists that support the voting rights movement were beaten like Fannie Lou Hamer and even slain to death including Michael Schwerner[6].

References

  1. Freedom Summer (2014). IMDb. Retrieved January 17 2021
  2. Freedom Summer. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 17 2021
  3. Freedom Summer. PBS. Retrieved January 17 2021
  4. Sundance Film Review: ‘Freedom Summer’ Variety. Retrieved January 17 2021
  5. Abe. Freedom Summer Movie Review. Anakando Media Group. Retrieved January 17 2021
  6. Freedom Summer (2014). Visual Parables. Retrieved January 17 2021