In the summer of 1964, more than 700 students descended on violent, segregated Mississippi. Defying authorities, they registered voters, created freedom schools, and established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Fifty years later, eyewitness accounts and never-before-seen archival material tell their story. Not all of them would make it through.

Anthony Harris
as Self - Mississippi Resident

Bruce Watson
as Self - Author of 'Freedom Summer'

Karin Kunstler Goldman
as Self - Freedom Summer Volunteer

Julian Bond
as Self - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Dudley Connor
as Self - Racist Lawyer (archive footage)

Dorothy Zellner
as Self - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Peggy Jean Connor
as Self - Mississippi Resident

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons
as Self - Freedom Summer Volunteer

Patti Miller
as Self - Freedom Summer Volunteer

Tracy Sugarman
as Self