THE STORY OF SNCC
Many Rivers Crossed Together
“SNCC” is a documentary on the history and legacy of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced “snick”) – a student-led movement of nonviolent racial protest borne from the youth activism of the 60s.
Organized by civil and human rights activist, and one-time NAACP president Ella Baker in response to the continued segregation of people of color from white establishments across the South, SNCC brought together student activists who had taken part in sit-ins – public demonstrations in which people of color would sit at the lunch counters of segregated establishments to protest unequal treatment and demand changes under the law. In addition to protest they also organized voter registration drives to register black voters.
The grassroots organization would inspire many great future leaders, including the late John Lewis, (who in addition to serving as the representative of Georgia’s 5th congressional district, also served as SNCC’s Chairman), Stokely Carmichael, Bob Moses, Diane Nash and more.
It goes without saying that without SNCC, many of the groundbreaking laws of the Civil Rights Movement would not have gotten passed.
“SNCC” is directed by American photographer and filmmaker Danny Lyons, who is most known for his role as the first staff photographer of the SNCC collective.
His work documenting the Civil Rights Movement from the ground floor is given new life through his film, which uses a collection of archival footage, recordings from 1962, and soundbites from present day interviews (including with John Lewis & other figureheads) to trace the lineage of the struggle and rebellion of the Civil Rights era to the revolutionary men and women of the SNCC movement.
