Freedom Summer Film Analysis

Freedom Summer was a campaign initiated by civil rights activists, with the intention to reverse de jure discrimination and focused on the issue that blacks weren’t registered to vote. Stanley Nelson Jr.’s 2014 Freedom Summer documentary, emphasized the evolution of a movement that shaped how blacks were treated in Mississippi, as paralleled by Barbour and Wright, the nation was looking at “this sort of discrimination [that] most blacks in the South faced. Especially in rural areas, blacks and whites lived and worked side by side, but by law they used separate facilities.” In June of 1964, a revolution unfolded before America’s eyes. The series of events that occurred, this particular summer in Mississippi, were ruthless acts of intimidation,

The documentary expands on the development of the SNCC and their pivotal role in trying to remedy discrimination of blacks in Mississippi. Bob Moses proved to have the insight needed to organize the SNCC and he led with a purpose and direction. That’s why his arrival in 1961 was one of the key components in the success of Freedom Summer. In Freedom Summer as he described the SNCC and what the group’s purpose was, Moses states it is “characterized by a restless energy to seek radical change in race relations in the United States. Their world is upset and they feel that if they are ever going to get it straight they must upset it more.” The birth of the summer freedom project was concise in its agenda and executed with finesse and attention to detail, the documentary shows that the outcome could only have been success in propagating racial freedom for southern blacks. The organizers knew what they wanted to accomplish, they utilized the advice and wisdom offered to them from veteran civil rights activists, and they had the education to make it work. The fact he came from the North, enabled Moses to bring the perspective and inspiration that many communities needed to ignite their willingness to rally for their rights. Just as Keeping the Republic states the “nonviolent resistance

The truly violent response to the hunger the blacks had for their equal freedom created a condition to fight injustices like this. The outside influences from the North provided the confidence the community needed to stand up to discrimination, no matter the cost or fear, and gave Mississippi the courage continue enduring true struggle. In implementing the resources in education that inspired the people, to become a cohesive single voice, was paramount in providing the generation with the tools to fight against oppression. The creation of a racially diverse party was what showed the nation, there was a stake in this fight for every southern black individual and became the reason Jim Crow laws were disbanded. The Summer Freedom activists insisted that the government resolve race based issues. We can see evidence of progress as Barbour and Wright explain the Supreme Court classifies race issues as “a suspect classification … [and] the Court looks very carefully at the law and government interest involved,” by reviewing cases with strict scrutiny. In Mississippi blacks could now register to vote without a literacy test, they were encouraged to utilize education and had the experience as a state to stand up to oppression. There are many instances of racial violence after Summer Freedom, but as the documentary highlights, never before had the state been able to say that 60% of blacks