The Sociology Video Project

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Title: Lowndes County Freedom Party: The rise of the Black Panthers

Rating: 2.5 out of 4

Reference: Princeton, NJ : Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 1995.
25 minutes
Call number: video 4545

Abstract: This program examines the rise of Stokely Carmichael and his Lowndes County Freedom Party, which he formed to get blacks registered to vote. These efforts are examined against the backdrop of murder and intimidation which accompanied the struggle for civil rights. None of the Party's candidates were ultimately elected, but the groundwork had been laid for the poor and disenfranchised in the South to gain political power.

Reviews and Numerical Ratings

2.5 This video provides a decent account of the Black quest for political power via the ballot box in one area of the deep south during the 1960s. In addition to demonstrating how power, stratification and racial domination placed definite limits on electoral politics as a means of effecting Black progress, this video gives a vivid picture of the physical and psychological terror experienced by civil rights workers at that time and place. Sociologically the film has value (for example, the poverty of the county and surrounding area is explained, in part, by reference to uneven patterns of industrialization), but it's primarily a standard PBS-style production, relying more on the anecdotes of those involved in the voter drives than anything else. I'd recommend this video for lower level undergraduates as well as those taking courses concerned with race and social movements. Chris Williams

2 This is a good, well-edited film with plenty of first person narratives and personal accounts from those involved in the Lowndes County elections. The video gives the early origins of the Black Panthers but remains silent on their rise to national prominence. It would be a good video for social movement history, but would need to be supplemented by discussion of the Black Panthers wider initiatives. It flags poverty and denial of rights as issues which could be dealt with in class discussion as there is little analysis offered in the video. Mervyn Horgan

3.5 This is a very good video documenting the birth of the Black Panther Party in the US. It is well-produced, easy to understand, and could spark useful conversations about the history and effects of racism, concepts of social struggle and social movements, forms of resistance that favour militant action versus those which embrace electoral politics (the video favours what the producers refer to as “more peaceful means” of opposition). Good for first or second year students. Anna Toth

2 Slow-paced, lots of filler in the interviews, perhaps better for high school students. Demonstrates how social movements are organized and explains the origins of the Black Panthers. However, there’s little information about the Panthers’ trajectory or future edginess. A liberal representation of struggle. Kathy Bischoping & Riley Olstead

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