Browse films

Mississippi Messiah

Clay Haskell
Dylan Nelson
United States, 2022, 78 min.

In English.

Civil rights icon James Meredith never fit in -- not as the first Black student at the University of Mississippi, not as a civil rights leader on the Meredith March, and certainly not while endorsing ex-Klansman David Duke. Mississippi Messiah is a nuanced examination of Meredith's complicated life as a public figure.

Director's Statement

Documentaries about the American civil rights movement often focus on simplified, inspiring narratives that present a unified picture and weed out awkward dissenters. That’s not what you’ll get watching Mississippi Messiah. “James Meredith is an individualist,” civil rights leader Myrlie Evers-Williams says in our film – but that’s only one aspect of his fascinating personality. Meredith is not a hero or a martyr. He is a human being who catalyzed tremendous social change and who is still fighting to improve his world. We believe James Meredith’s story rewards exploration, in part because it provokes questions as much as it provides answers.

Category: Documentary.