| Freedom on My Mind | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Connie Field Marilyn Mulford |
| Written by | Michael Chandler |
| Produced by | Connie Field Marilyn Mulford[1] |
| Starring | Ronnie Washington Steve Most Victoria Gray |
| Cinematography | Michael Chinn Steve Devita Vicente Franco |
| Edited by | Michael A. Chandler |
| Music by | Mary Watkins |
| Distributed by | Tara Releasing |
Release dates |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Freedom on My Mind is a 1994 featuredocumentary film that tells the story of theMississippi voter registration movement of 1961 to 1964, which was characterized by violence against the people involved, including multiple instances of murder.
The film was produced and directed byConnie Field and Marilyn Mulford. Participants interviewed includeBob Moses,Victoria Gray Adams,Endesha Ida Mae Holland, andFreedom Summer volunteersMarshall Ganz,Heather Booth, andPam Allen.
Freedom on My Mind premiered at theSundance Film Festival, won that year'sGrand Jury Prize for Best Documentary, and was nominated for anAcademy Award forBest Documentary Feature.
In 1961,Mississippi was rigidlysegregated. There were virtually no black voters even though African-Americans comprised a large percentage of the population, the majority in some localities.Bob Moses entered the state and the Mississippi Voter Registration Project began. The first black farmer who attempted to register was fatally shot by a Mississippi State Representative,E.H. Hurst. Due to intimidation of witnesses, one of whom,Louis Allen, was slain, Hurst was never prosecuted.
Among the events depicted in the film is theFreedom Summer of 1964, in which three civil rights workers were slain.
Freedom on My Mind combines personal interviews, rare archival film and television footage, authentic Mississippi Delta blues, and Movement gospel songs. It emphasizes the strategic brilliance of Mississippi's young, black organizers. Barred from political participation, they created their own integrated party theMississippi Freedom Democratic Party. They recruited a thousand mostly white students from around the country to come to Mississippi, bringing the eyes and conscience of the nation with them. The students and theMississippi Freedom Democratic Party organizers put together a delegation of sharecroppers, maids, and day-laborers that challenged the all-white delegates in the1964 Democratic National Convention. The film describes how their effort to replace the state's delegation was not accepted by the Democratic Party leadership, embittering the activists.
Ultimately their efforts succeeded. In 1965 Congress passed theVoting Rights Act, and by 1990,Mississippi had more elected black officials than any other state in the country.[2][3]
Variety called it "a landmark documentary that chronicles the most tumultuous and significant years in the history of the civil rights movement. A must see."[4] It was broadcast on PBS'sAmerican Experience and internationally, and has been used educationally in colleges and universities around the world.
The Washington Post said that the film "conveys the human dimensions of the fight with such a powerful combination of sensitivity and intelligence and pure emotional insight that it seems as if the facts were being set down for the very first time. As political history this is superlative stuff."[5]
Critic John Petrakis ofThe Chicago Tribune called the film "superbly produced and "must-viewing for anyone with an interest in the civil rights movement or American history."[6]
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by | Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Documentary 1994 | Succeeded by |