Institute History
Description
In the Mississippi of 1961, everything was segregated, and there were
virtually no black voters. When Bob Moses, who grew up in the Harlem
projects and attended Harvard University, entered the state to start the
Voter Registration Project, the first black farmer he registered was shot
and killed by no less than a Mississippi state legislator. By 1965, however,
the registration books were open, and today Mississippi has more
elected black officials than any other state.
What happened in the Interim—particularly during the summers of
1963 and 1964—is the focus of Freedom on My Mind, a rich and powerful
delineation of one of the most dramatic chapters in the American
civil-rights movement. A thorough look at the formation of the Freedom
Democratic Party in Mississippi and the role of SNCC (Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) in that state's voter-registration
drive, the film shows how thousands of white northerners (most of
them students In their twenties} united with local blacks (many of them
sharecroppers} to form a coalition that helped sound the death knell
for segregation in the South In spite of many frustrations and sometimes
tragic circumstances, this coalition prevailed, eventually taking
their demands for equality to the Democratic party's 1964 convention.
This was a crucial turning point for both the Democrats (still recovering
to this day) and the turbulent decade that was the sixties.
For the courageous Mississippians who led this challenge, Freedom
on My Mind is a very personal story of empowerment and transformation,
a deeply stirring chronicle throbbing with the human pulse that
distinguished such previous documentaries as Harlan County, U.S.A.
and The Times of Harvey Milk.
—Robert Hawk
Friday Jan 21 10:40 pm
Holiday Village Cinema III
Sunday Jan 23 1:00 pm
Holiday Village Cinema I
Wednesday Jan 2S 6:30 pm
Park City Library Center
Friday Jan 28 10:40 am
Holiday Village Cinema III
$7.00