Documentary Film: Freedom Summer By Stanley Nelson

In 1987, PBS started airing a fourteen-hour documentary series on the civil rights movement called Eye on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement. The purpose of this series was to inform the public about the civil rights movement from 1954 -1985. In episode six, “The Bridge to Freedom” the series turns it focus onto Selma, Alabama right before the death of Lee Jackson. The documentary which is based on primary sources including both images and interviews of SLCC leaders, SNCC leaders, personal friends of Martin Luther King Jr., supporters of segregation, and television reporters give a broad over view of the events in Selma from a plethora of perspectives.

The thesis of the book entails the accounts of racial tensions that took place in American in the 1920s and the emergence of civil rights movement based on the story of Ossian Sweet. The book depicts the story by a Detroit native, Boyle and how he tells the events of the city's most major civil rights episodes. The main event took place on September of 1925, when Ossian Sweet, his wife and a few friends protected their house with guns from an enraged mob of whites. After the tragic events of that night everyone in Sweet’s house were arrested and put on trial. Those events eventually led to Civil Rights Movement.

Racial Elements of the Trial The movies opening scenes introduce the racial issues to be carried throughout the film. According to legal theorists, race is an extra-legal factor that can influence the legal system and its principles. As a result, law is racist and these racial inequalities are embedded into the legal system (textbook). In 1984 when this movie takes place, it was years after the civil rights act of 1968 but the tensions between races were still dominant, especially in southern states such as Mississippi.

The racial tension in the United States was very high. Black people were killed by the Ku Klux Klan, lynching and other racially triggered violence were very strong in the south. People of color would receive poor education and have to be segregated from white people. Martin Luther King Jr. stood up for equal rights and was killed trying. From the 1850s up was hard years for colored people.

The Freedom Summer Project’s goal was to change voter registration

During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, shifts in the political and societal views were very apparent. Through out the time era, we saw figures of great importance and the strength of activists are its highest. The build up of severe racism and discrimination led to the beginning of the civil rights era, which led to several divides in blacks, as well as a beginning of a more enriched society.. The Civil Rights era had several key events leading up to the full force of the movement - including bus boycotts, Freedom Riders, and the Little Rock Nine. Once the movement began to increase in involvement, many supporters were gained.

Prejudice in Maycomb County Throughout history, prejudice has followed certain groups. In TKMB prejudice is very strong and reaches a boiling point. In TKMB by Harper Lee many different themes are presented. Prejudice is one of them.

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), also known as “Snick”, was an organization created in 1960 during the time of the civil rights movement. During the Civil Rights, life was hard for the blacks and many strived to help out the community, but very few actually succeeded. One of those groups that made a change was the SNCC. The purpose of the SNCC was to desegregate the South, give independence to blacks, and give voting rights to the blacks. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was one of the most influential organizations in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960’s because of its ability to reach out to the younger society in order to achieve integration for the blacks and whites.

The Freedom Rides was a huge step towards desegregation in the 1960s and put many African American lives on the line. CORE created the rides to bring national attention to segregation laws in America, but mainly to test the Supreme Court’s ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), the declared segregation in interstate buses and rail stations unconstitutional. Even with violent mobs and attacks, they continued on with bravery to keep pushing for desegregation. Many activists and speakers came out of these rides. As well as making segregation in bus terminals unconstitutional.

Freedom Summer, this was the year 1964. In the year of 1964 this day become popular because of the African American 's fighting for their freedom and for their rights to vote. The African American already had the right to vote, but then when it came to the women of the African Americans they didn 't have the rights to vote and that was the reason why freedom summer was made. Freedom Summer was a movement for the African American women so they can have their rights to vote. The men and women of the African Americans wanted to help as well and wanted to help get everyone their rights to have freedom.

I learned a lot about the Civil Rights Movements. I chose to research the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) because I am a student; I hoped it would help me to understand how people my age were feeling during the 1960’s. The SNCC was active from 1960 – 1966. I learned that many other groups and people were working towards public awareness and racial equality. The movie clips that I got to watch showed how violent the protests were.

The Freedom Rides was a series of bus rides to the Deep South to protest against segregation laws. They believed that they should test the Supreme Court ruling of Boynton v. Virginia and Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia. These declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional. The South ignored these laws, and the federal government did nothing to stop them.

As an associate professor of Afro-American Studies, the author of the memoir Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story, has his own in depth personal experience with racial division. The author, Timothy Tyson lives in Wisconsin but was born and raised in North Carolina. The memoir published in 2004, Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story closely examines civil rights in the South and the racial gap particularly in Oxford, North Carolina. The book was given the title from a slave spiritual that evolved into a hymn, “The Blood Done Sign My Name” that the author cherished, given his upbringing in the church. The song represents significance to the struggle of African Americans and like the song the constant changing with the hope that they may never

In the summer of 1964, a movement called freedom summer took place which was an activist movement to get African Americans in the southern states to vote. The movement was led by an activist group called Congress on Racial Equality or CORE. Three civil rights workers were killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. On June 21,1964, the three activist movements were declared deceased.

The film demonstrated the growing divide between SNCC and other civil rights groups both in the south and during the 1963 March on Washington. First of all, when SNCC invited SCLC figurehead Martin Luther King Jr. they were under the impression that Dr. King would give a speech and then leave on the same day. Ultimately, SNCC wanted to reap the publicity benefits of MLK’s national prominence without being controlled by the SCLC. However, Dr. Anderson (President of the Albany Movement) publically invited Dr. King to stay and aid with the protests. SNCC leaders like Charles Sherrod began resent Dr. King’s involvement in the movement because his presence was very inconsistent, which made mass organization difficult.