DE Asst. Features Editor

Memories of racial riots and violence witnessed by a 21-year-old law student in the summer of 1964 provided the driving force behind the production of SIUC’s first full-length documentary.

Michael Starr, chair of the SIUC radio-television department, was a legal intern for the National Lawyers Guild at the historic Freedom Summer in 1964 in Mississippi. His memories were the structure behind the SIUC-produced documentary Mississippi, America, Judith McCray, SIUC radio-television professor and the film’s producer, said.

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The documentary also is the first full-length documentary produced by an Illinois university to be accepted for broadcast by PBS.

McCray said Starr approached her with the story idea in June 1994.

He felt it was something that changed his life in how he addressed civil rights and facing racism, she said. It was also an area he knew about.

McCray said Mississippi, America recounts the efforts of civil rights activists as they worked to encourage African-Americans to register and vote in Mississppi during the summer of 1964.

It was a strategy to get the state of Mississippi to invite college students, attorneys, and clergy to help open up its voter registration and minimize the amount of death and violence that had been occurring and would occur.

McCray said the documentary was produced in 18 months, with most of the footage shot at the Freedom Summer’s 30th anniversary in June 1994.

McCray said the hour-long documentary includes historic footage from the 1960s and recent interviews with volunteers, civil rights attorneys and Mississippians.

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Most of people interviewed are in their 70s and 80s now, she said. This was an important time to get the video done.

McCray said the documentary which cost more than $100,000 to produce, received financial backing from the University and other private contributors. She said funds for the documentary were not easy to raise.

Getting accepted by PBS was total vindication, she said. It was vindication against the people who told us it was a good idea but didn’t help.

McCray said other documentaries about the Freedom Summer exist, but the legal angle has rarely been examined.

We are accustomed to the law being used to restrict social change, she said. I was really fascinated by the fact they were trying to use existing laws to support social change.

McCray said the NLG was one of the organizations that provided legal assistance to civil rights activists who were arrested for their voter registration activities.

It wasn’t about having a trial even, she said. You would be taken out at night, beaten and/or killed, she said. The rush to get the attorneys in was to get people out on the street before they had to spend a night in jail.

Gary Wolf, a doctoral student in journalism, had the opportunity to interview the late civil rights attorney William Kunstler for the documentary.

Wolf said working on the documentary gave him hands-on experience, but the interviewing and historic footage gave him the perspective to understand the event.

After talking to Kunstler, you realize these people walked away from the civil rights, but it’s still in their head, he said.

Wolf said he was surprised PBS chose to broadcast the documentary, because they had already broadcast previous Freedom Summer documentaries.

There are many stories about the whole civil rights movement, he said. Freedom Summer had at least three points of view to tell. If PBS said they were only going to show one, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal. But they are saying, Here’s one more because it had a different story to tell,’ and I think that is great.

Jane Adams, an SIUC anthropology professor, attended the Freedom Summer in 1964 as a volunteer. She said the documentary teaches an important value to new generations.

It’s such an important piece of history, she said. It really needs to be passed on. It reminds us that we don’t have to accept things as they are, and we can change history.

Mississippi, America will air tonight on PBS (channel 8 in Carbondale) at 9:00.