'American Experience: Freedom Summer' Receives Peabody Award

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE's Freedom Summer, written, produced, and directed by Stanley Nelson, has won a George Foster Peabody Award, it was announced today by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. This marks the 17th Peabody Award for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE; two of Nelson's previous films for the series, The Murder of Emmett Till and Freedom Riders, were also honored with Peabody Awards.

The Peabody Award citation noted that Freedom Summer recalls the voter registration drives of 1964, "a campaign planned and trained for like a Civil Rights D-Day. The documentary is not only inspiring and instructive, it holds surprises even for those who believe they know this epochal American story."

Broadcast on PBS in June 2014 in conjunction with the 50th anniversary, Freedom Summer explored events during the hot and deadly summer of 1964, when student volunteers joined with organizers and local African Americans in a historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in Mississippi. It highlighted an overlooked but essential element of the civil rights movement: the patient and long-term efforts by these groups to organize communities and register black voters -- even in the face of intimidation, physical violence and death.

"As with all the films we've worked on with Stanley, it was Freedom Summer's emotional power that truly moved audiences," AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Executive Producer Mark Samels said. "The film stands as a compelling reminder that change can be made when ordinary people stand together to fight for for justice."

"I am so thrilled to win this award," said Stanley Nelson. "It's extra special to win it for Freedom Summer because this is an important story of heroism by young people from all over the country and by people in Mississippi.  And I'm so happy to have worked with the team at AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and PBS.” 
     
The Peabody Awards, based at UGA's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, are the oldest in electronic media and among the world's most prestigious and selective prizes. They recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, podcasters, producing organizations and individuals. The 18-member Peabody Board is a distinguished panel of television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts. For more information regarding the Peabody Awards program, please visit www.peabodyawards.com or follow @PeabodyAwards.

Freedom Summer is a Firelight Films Production for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.