Freedom Song (film)
Freedom Song 2000 is a madeforTV 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 AfricanAmerican voters and gaining awareness for their cause.
Freedom Song is told in flashbacks from the perspective of Owen Walker, a high school student in the fictional town of Quinlan, Mississippi in the mid1960s. Growing up in an insulated black community, Owen is oblivious to the white supremacy that still reigned in his town until he has a runin with racists at a local bus station. While waiting for the bus, fiveyearold Owen wanders unknowingly into the Whites Only diner. His father, Will, soon follows quickly behind and is forced by white diner attendants to spank his son in public. Will later tells his son, someday youll be eating at this counter. But this scene of public humiliation leaves a lasting scar on their relationship.Will Walker had been a civil rights activist in the late 1940s. After returning from World War II, where he fought for freedom of oppressed groups abroad, Will resented the continued oppression of African Americans in his hometown. He worked to register African Americans to vote, in order to replace the towns racist sheriff. Wills organizing was met with violent resistance by white supremacists. One night, when Will, his wife, and young son were in the house sleeping, Klansmen shot at their house. The family survived, but townspeople began to boycott Wills store, and he was driven out of business. Will was left with lingering feeling that organizing for equality was dangerous and worthless. ........
Source: Wikipedia
