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FREEDOM RIDERS PBS ENCORE ON TUESDAY, FEB. 7TH!

Still haven't seen the acclaimed film Freedom Riders? Even if you have seen it, grab a friend or a family member and see it again! PBS will air an encore of FREEDOM RIDERS on Tuesday evening, February 7, 2012 on American Experience. Check local listings for show times. Spread the word! Let's make this rebroadcast even bigger than the original premiere!

ABOUT THE FILM
2011 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Freedom Rides, when over 400 black and white Americans risked their lives by traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism. Made in honor of the 50th anniversary, Freedom Riders is the powerful, harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever.

Freedom Riders garnered three Primetime Emmy Awards in 2011 and was an Official Selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, the 2010 Silverdocs Documentary Festival, and the 2010 Full Frame Documentary Festival.

CREDITS
Writer, Director & Producer: Stanley Nelson

Based in part on the book:
Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice
By Raymond Arsenault

Producer: Laurens Grant

Editors: Lewis Erskine & Aljernon Tunsil

Original Concept: Paul Taylor

Original Music: Tom Phillips

Director of Photography: Robert Shepard

Archival Producer: Lewanne Jones

Associate Producer: Stacey Holman

For a full list of credits, go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/about/credits

PRODUCTION FUNDERS
A special thanks to the following funders:

Exclusive Corporate Funding Provided by Liberty Mutual

 

Major Funding Provided by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

 

Additional Funding Provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and the WGBH Documentary Investment Group

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGN
Firelight Media has been leading a national community engagement campaign which involved community-based organizations and student groups across the country to use the film to highlight lessons from the Rides, draw parallels between the struggles of the 1960s and today, and support youth-led action around current social justice struggles. Our team also released United in Courage: A Community Resource Guide for the film FREEDOM RIDERS. The campaign was recently covered in a feature article by PhilanTopic.

CAMPAIGN FUNDERS
*A special thanks to NBPC, Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Campaign for Black Male Achievement of the Open Society Foundations for their support for the outreach campaign.