Freedom Summer

The Stanback will present the PBS documentary, Freedom Summer, followed by a discussion with David Dennis, an organizer of Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964, a civil rights hero featured in the film and a member of the Stanback Advisory Committee. During Freedom Summer of 1964, racially diverse civil rights leaders and volunteers from all over the United States went to Mississippi to make a stand to put an end to segregation, register Black people to vote and end the longtime disenfranchisement of African Americans in a state with the country's lowest percentage of African Americans registered to vote (6.7%). They were mostly young and organized by the Mississippi Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), which was led by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The summer of 1964 showed what determined efforts can achieve. However, as an old African slogan goes, ''the struggle continues.'' What can we learn and how can we make a difference today? The Fall Film Festival will continue with films on the third Thursday in October and November. All films are free and open to the public.