Every Friday from January 2 to February 20, 2026, from 6 to 8 PM, join us for a special series of screenings of Stanley Nelson Jr.’s acclaimed documentary Freedom Summer (2014), presented in conjunction with the exhibition Enemy Alien: Tamio Wakayama.
The film takes audiences into the heart of 1960s Mississippi, where the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)—with Tamio Wakayama among its volunteers—organized for what would become a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement: the Freedom Summer of 1964.
Blending archival footage with first-hand accounts, the documentary captures the bravery and collective action that helped reshape a nation, while offering powerful historical context to Wakayama’s photographs and activism during this pivotal moment.
Screenings take place on the 3rd Floor in the Cinema Room, located within the exhibition Enemy Alien: Tamio Wakayama. Seating is first come, first served.
Tickets are free for Gallery Members and Access Pass Holders or with Gallery Admission.
To attend, simply reserve an admission ticket for the night of the screening.
About The Film
In the hot and deadly summer of 1964, the nation’s eyes were riveted on Mississippi. Over ten memorable weeks known as Freedom Summer, more than 700 student volunteers joined with organizers and local African Americans in a historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in Mississippi, the nation’s most segregated state. The summer was marked by sustained and deadly violence, including the notorious murders of three civil rights workers, countless beatings, the burning of thirty-five churches and the bombing of seventy homes and community centres.
In the face of this violence, these organizers, volunteers and Mississippians worked together to canvas for voter registration, create Freedom Schools and establish an alternative challenge to the State Democratic Party—the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Born of Freedom Summer, and in response to the challenges of registering voters directly within hostile Mississippi, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party registered its own voters outside of the discriminatory system, ultimately sending a delegation of 68 members to attend the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City to confront and unseat the all-white delegation.
Directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow Stanley Nelson Jr., Freedom Summer highlights an overlooked but essential element of the Civil Rights Movement: the patient and long-term efforts by both outside activists and local citizens in Mississippi to organize communities and register Black voters—even in the face of intimidation, physical violence and death. The Freedom Summer story reminds us that the movement that ended segregation was far more complex than most of us know.
Freedom Summer premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, making it Stanley Nelson Jr.’s seventh premiere at Sundance. Marking the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, it made its broadcast premiere to critical acclaim on American Experience (PBS) on June 24, 2014. That year also marked the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision, which struck down key protections afforded by the landmark civil rights legislation, born of the political momentum generated by this historical movement—the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Watch The Trailer
Events In This Series
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