Freedom And Justice

Inspired by the photos of Cecil J. Williams, a South Carolina photographer whose pictures have been featured in Jet and Ebony, Freedom and Justice chronicles events in the struggle for civil rights in rural Clarendon County, SC, from 1948 forward. Narrated by Sonny DuBose, the film traces Williams' story, from receiving his first camera at the age of 9 to being arrested for taking pictures during the "Orangeburg Massacre" on March 2, 1968, when three young black students were killed by local authorities. On-camera interviews with Williams and others, including former Charlotte, NC Mayor Harvey Gantt, recall the daily injustices that blacks in the deep South faced during the 1940s and 1950s until the long struggle for civil rights began in earnest with the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. the Board of Education, which effectively buried the legal basis for segregation. While the pleasant background music sometimes seems at great odds with the cruel images depicted onscreen, Freedom and Justice is, overall, a good production. However, the film's subtitle "The Struggle for Civil Rights" might confuse some, since this is not the story of the Civil Rights Movement, but rather one segment of it: the battles fought in Orangeburg, SC. Recommended, with the reservation that this may be of more regional than national interest, given the ready availability of such superior treatments as Eyes on the Prize and Eyes on the Prize II (VL-4/89). (R. Pitman)