the freedom of information process has become a joke. it was already well on its way prior to the obama administration, but this administration has perfected the stall, the delay, the excuses and really it's shocking because i feel very strongly that the information that they withhold and protect many times belongs to the public. we own it. but there's no sense of that when you ask for it. they covet it as if they're a private corporation, defending their trade secrets, rather than understanding that what they hold is information that is gathered on our behalf. >> the changing face of network news, tonight at 8:00. now can you keep in touch with current events from the nation's capital using any phone any time with c-span radio on audio now. every weekday listen to a recap of the day's events at 5:00 p.m.

eastern on washington today. you can also hear audio of the five network sunday public affairs programs beginning sundays at noon eastern. c-span radio on audio now call 202-626-8888. long distance or phone charges may apply. >> this year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1964 mississippi freedom summer project, when more than 1,000 white and black volunteers from around the country, many of them college students, went to mississippi to participate in a voter registration drive coordinated by several civil rights organizations. at 6:30:00 p.m. eastern time tonight we'll show a panel discussion with several veterans of the mississippi summer project. now, loni bunch director of the national museum of african-american history and culture, reflects on the civil rights movement in the summer of 1964.

this summer marks 50 years since freedom summer. what is freedom summer? >> it is amazing, although it was 50 years ago that people throughout the south and throughout the north came together to basically challenge the laws in the south especially mississippi. freedom summer really was on the one hand a massive voter registration drive. the belief was that if young people mainly college age students, could come from throughout the united states, black and white, they would get training in college and then they would go down to mississippi and they would reach out to the community, they would help register voters, but they would also do things like create freedom schools that would allow people to get educated in a way that the segregation laws didn't allow. so freedom summer was

really almost an invasion of people of good will going into places like mississippi to basically say if we can register people, we then have the political clout to change the local and statewide community. so it was an amazing moment. >> how did it get started? >> the student nonviolent coordinating committee and several other organizations began to think about what's the best strategy to effect change. and part of it was that so much happened in the south, in quiet corners that nobody knew, and that you really didn't have enough resources to make the change that you wanted. so the belief was that here were these college students, many responding to john kennedy's initial notion of your responsibility to help make america better, and these kids came from all over the country. and many weren't really sure what they were getting into they were trained, they were

told how to practice nonviolence, how to be safe. but the reality is you suddenly have all these people coming to mississippi, and really forcing the state to react to them. and they did. they reacted with violence, they reacted with intimidation, but it was also an example of where that violence and intimidation didn't stop the plan to register all these people. >> who are the people that are coming from the north, that are coming from all over the country, and why mississippi? >> most of the people who come are college age students. these are the people who have both the passion, quite honestly, they're not having jobs that are threatened to lose, and they are also part of that generation that wants to change america. >> they mostly african-americans? >> i would say that they are mostly white students. so it's a combination of black and white students, a large number of white students coming to the south and mississippi is

really the epicenter of racism, of hatred, of pain. so the belief was that if you can change mississippi, you can then change arkansas and texas and georgia. and mississippi without a doubt was the place where there was the greatest risk. as you know, in that summer the freedom summer, almost immediately after it began there was this horrible murder, where two of the volunteers from the north and one mississippi native, james cheney, andrew goodman, and basically were killed. they were taken by a sheriff and they were held until the clan could gather together. they were released. the clan came and killed them, they disappeared. and this became the great fear

for all the people who worked in mississippi, because they knew that this could happen. so it is a really painful moment and what it does is it both inspires those who were in mississippi to keep registering but it also again puts national attention on philadelphia, mississippi. the f.b.i., which often wasn't very supportive of the civil rights movement, had to go find out what happened to these three civil rights workers. and ultimately when that was found out that sense of anger again, stimulated more people to come from the north. white and black, to be part of this, so in some ways, what freedom summer does what the murder of the civil rights workers does, is that it gives this country another visible moment where they've got to

effect change because this is seen as something that shouldn't happen in a free and fair america. >> you say that mississippi had the greatest risk. there's also a possibly a reward there, because african-american voter registration is extremely low in mississippi. >> in mississippi you would have counties that were overwhelmingly african-american that would have only five percent of the voters registered. so there was this real sense real fear in white mississippi to control the black vote. and the reality that that many of the people who organized the freedom summer realized is that if you could register that vote and increase it by 50%, you suddenly have political clout you can you suddenly can begin to elect local officials, and in some ways the strategy worked in the long term. as we look back now, we see mississippi is one of those places with the largest number of county sheriffs and local

workers. so the strategy of freedom summer was a good strategy, but it was a strategy not without risk. >> so what did they accomplish that summer? >> i think they accomplished several things. i think they accomplished one, a sense that you could inspire young americans to participate in a movement. so that sort of rush of support really plays out throughout the rest of the 1960's. i think also what they accomplished with freedom summer was a sense that you could empower local people. even though there were a lot of people who came into mississippi, the goal was to follow the leadership of local people, to empower local people like fanny lou hammer, so that was very successful. the other thing that freedom summer does is that it obviously opens the door to thoughts about

how do you protect the rights of people. so it also means that a year later, the voting right act is passed, which is really the most important act to ensure that discrimination against people's ability to vote would be done away with. so in some ways mississippi summer, the freedom summer, shown the light on the challenges bought it gave people direction how to change this and i think it becomes one of the most important movements that one could experience as part of the civil rights movement. >> with the enter respective of 50 years, where do you think it fits in? >> i would say that in many ways for me what is so powerful about freedom summer is that this shows that young americans can take leadership, and effect profound change. and i think that it will always be an important moment, partly

because of the death of those three civil rights workers. they remind thaw change does not come without cost. but on the other hand what this tells us is that it suggested that here was the first moment where you said let us confront the place that is at this time one of the worst places ever to work and to live, and let's try to make that better. and i think they did with freedom summer. >> lonnie bunch, thank you for your time. >> my pleasure thank you. >> you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook, at cspanhistory. with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and the senate on c-span 2, here on c-span 3 we

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on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> we feature william wyler and thunderbolt. it is about a squadron of fighter planes stationed in italy. he also directed the popular world war ii documentary "the memphis belle," ." we speak to author and film historian mark harris. >> a new book out, "five came back: a story of hollywood and the second world war," by mark harris. who was william wyler? >> of the five directors about who my right, he was the only jew. he was an immigrant