Join us for a special screening of PBS’s “American Experience: Freedom Riders,” an inspirational 2010 documentary by veteran filmmaker Stanley Nelson. 

The 1961 Freedom Rides are a focus of the current exhibition at Seeley Mudd Manuscript Library, “Nobody Turn Us Around: The Freedom Rides and Selma to Montgomery Marches– Selections from the John Doar Papers.” The Freedom Riders–members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Nashville Student Movement, and many others–risked their lives to ride buses together in interracial groups through the Deep South, challenging segregation in terminal waiting rooms and facilities. In the process, these activists managed to bring the president and the entire American public face to face with the challenge of correcting civil rights inequities that plagued the nation. Interviewing influential figures on both sides of the issue, Nelson chronicles a chapter of American civil rights history that stands as an astonishing testament to the incredible combination of personal conviction and the courage to organize against all odds.

The screening will be followed by a private viewing of the exhibition at Mudd Manuscript Library with exhibition curators Will Clements and Phoebe Nobles, along with refreshments and a special pop-up exhibit featuring original archival materials related to the Freedom Riders that are not featured in the main exhibit.