Overview

Freedom Song is a film based on true stories of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1960s. It tells the story of the struggle of African-Americans to register to vote in the fictional town of Quinlan. In the midst of the Freedom Summer, a group of high school students in the small town are eager to make grassroots changes in their own community. The young activists meet resistance not only from white southerners, but from their parents, who have experienced firsthand the violence that can result from speaking out. As high school students band together with the support of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, they make strides in registering African American voters and gaining awareness for their cause. The film was made for TV and released on TNT. It was written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, co-written by Stanley Weiser, and released in 2000. Winner of the Image Award, Writers Guild of America award, and Golden Gate Award, it stars Danny Glover, Vicellous Reon Shannon, and Vondie Curtis-Hall.