Series/Themes: Historical Themes, Political and Social Issues

Genre: Documentaries

Film Year: 2014

Locations: USA

Film Length: 112 min

Director: Stanley Nelson

Featuring: Julian Bond, Taylor Branch, Ben Chaney

In the hot and deadly summer of 1964, the nation’s eyes were riveted on Mississippi. Despite concerted efforts of local civil rights activists, the state remained steeped in segregation, underscored by racial hate crimes and the systematic exclusion of African Americans from the political process. Award-winning director Stanley Nelson captures this volatile period with remarkable historical footage and firsthand accounts from volunteers whose lives changed in those long summer months. Fifty years later, this film highlights an overlooked but essential element of the Civil Rights Movement: activists’ patient and long-term efforts to organize communities and register black voters — even in the face of intimidation, physical violence and death. Discussion with Julian Bond, Lynn French, Joyce Ladner, and Deborah McDowell (U.Va.)

Supported by U.Va. Office for Diversity and Equity and The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at U.Va.