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Freedom Summer

In the summer of 1964, more than 700 students descended on violent, segregated Mississippi. Defying authorities, they registered voters, created freedom schools, and established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Fifty years later, eyewitness accounts and never-before-seen archival material tell their story. Not all of them would make it through.

Top Cast

  • Anthony Harris

    Anthony Harris

    Self - Mississippi Resident

  • Bruce Watson

    Bruce Watson

    Self - Author of 'Freedom Summer'

  • Karin Kunstler Goldman

    Karin Kunstler Goldman

    Self - Freedom Summer Volunteer

  • Julian Bond

    Julian Bond

    Self - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

  • Dudley Connor

    Dudley Connor

    Self - Racist Lawyer (archive footage)

  • Dorothy Zellner

    Dorothy Zellner

    Self - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

  • Peggy Jean Connor

    Peggy Jean Connor

    Self - Mississippi Resident

  • Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons

    Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons

    Self - Freedom Summer Volunteer

  • Patti Miller

    Patti Miller

    Self - Freedom Summer Volunteer

Overview

In the summer of 1964, more than 700 students descended on violent, segregated Mississippi. Defying authorities, they registered voters, created freedom schools, and established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Fifty years later, eyewitness accounts and never-before-seen archival material tell their story. Not all of them would make it through.

Rating

7.2 / 10
6 Reviews
0 Popular

Trailers & Clips

Recommendations

56 Up

When a cross-section of seven-year-olds were interviewed for 7 Up in 1964 it was immediately evident that their social backgrounds influenced their attitudes towards life. While the upper class children were confident and self-assured, those from middle and working class backgrounds were resigned to a challenging life of hard work. This premise was put to the test every seven years when the same group were interviewed about the progression of their lives. 49 years in the making, the changes that occurred to the original 14 make for fascinating television and are in many ways the stories of all our lives. From success and disappointment, marriage and childbirth, to poverty and illness, nearly every facet of life has been captured on film. Now, at the age of 56, the group are once more brought together and, with the benefit of hindsight, assess whether their lives have been ruled by circumstance or self-determination.

56 Up

7.2 2012
Alone in the Wilderness

Dick Proenneke retired at age 50 in 1967 and decided to build his own cabin in the wilderness at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula, in what is now Lake Clark National Park. Using color footage he shot himself, Proenneke traces how he came to this remote area, selected a homestead site and built his log cabin completely by himself. The documentary covers his first year in-country, showing his day-to-day activities and the passing of the seasons as he sought to scratch out a living alone in the wilderness.

Alone in the Wilderness

7.9 2004