“Freedom Summer, 2014” Film Analysis Essay Help-How did the organizing, vision, and sacrifices of Freedom Summer impact the implementation of the Voting Rights Act?
1) Watch the film Freedom Summer (2014, by director Stanley Nelson) with at least two other people. (The film should be a history of Mississippi civil rights activism in 1964–if not, you have the wrong film!) This can be anyone who is not in our class. (Note: It is ok to do this assignment in pairs or small groups, as long as each class member recruits at least two non-class members.) Ideally, you should watch the film together, if possible. If you’ve already seen the documentary, make sure to watch it again to observe things that are relevant to our course. The DVD of the film is on reserve in the library. You can also stream through any of the services (iTunes, HuluPlus, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, etc.) you have available. See a list of services where the film should be available here (some will require a small fee): http://www.canistream.it/search/movie/freedom%20summer (Amazon Prime is FREE)
2) Discuss the film with at least two other people. Keep the following questions at the forefront of discussion: What are the most memorable scenes, moments, quotes, or events from the film? What did you learn about the history of voting rights and their relationship to student activism (especially SNCC = Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)?
3) Write a 400-word or greater report of your discussion including your analysis and that of your non-class viewers. Make sure to focus on the questions in #2 while making as many connections as possible to the assigned reading for this week (“Give us the Ballot”, Ari Berman, pages 39-99). Your response should include at least 5 citations from the reading. Since the readings aren’t directly about Freedom Summer, consider the following:
- How did the organizing, vision, and sacrifices of Freedom Summer impact the implementation of the Voting Rights Act?
- How did the of racism, hostility, and violence in opposition to Freedom Summer continue after the Voting Rights Act was passed?
Paper format
MLA
