Created Equal Programming Series: Freedom Riders

(2011)

RUNNING TIME: 120 MINUTES

Attracting a diverse group of volunteers—black and white, young and old, male and female, secular and religious, northern and southern—the Freedom Rides of 1961 took the civil rights struggle out of the courtroom and onto the streets of the Jim Crow South.

Freedom Riders tells the terrifying, moving, and suspenseful story of a time when white and black volunteers riding a bus into the Deep South risked being jailed, beaten, or killed, as white local and state authorities ignored or encouraged violent attacks. The film includes previously unseen amateur 8mm footage of the burning bus on which some Freedom Riders were temporarily trapped, taken by a local 12 year-old and held as evidence since 1961 by the FBI.

To mark the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has developed a special initiative,Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle. As part of the Endowment’s Bridging Cultures initiative, Created Equal uses the power of documentary films to spark public conversations about the changing meanings of freedom and equality in America.

Four outstanding documentary films, spanning the period from the 1830s to the 1960s, are the centerpiece for this project. Each of these films was supported by the NEH, and each tells the remarkable stories of individuals who challenged the social and legal status quo of deeply rooted institutions, from slavery to segregation.

Created Equal encourages communities to revisit the history of civil rights in America and to reflect on the ideals of freedom and equality that have helped bridge deep racial and cultural divides.

The Detroit Historical Society represents one of 473 communities across the nation who received the Created Equal film set, accompanied by resources to guide public discussion programs.  The Society will hold screenings and discussions of each film beginning in February 2014. We will show the films in their entirety each month as our Film Series presentations. Then, for our monthly Scholar Series presentations, we will show excerpts of each film, followed by a facilitated group discussion led by a humanities scholar.