During the 2021 Sunflower County Film Academy, 22 high school students–with the help of several School of Communication faculty and alumni–spent a week planning, directing, and filming the documentary An Army Rising Up while exploring their community’s connection to civil rights icons Emmet Till and Fannie Lou Hamer. Every summer, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America hosts a free intensive filmmaker workshop for high school students in the Mississippi Delta. Since its release, the film has been making its way through film festivals across the country. Most recently, the film received Best Documentary Short at the 2024 South Georgia Film Festival and began distribution to PBS stations nationwide in April, 2024.

Florida State University has had a strong, continuous presence in this program and in the Mississippi Delta for years. Triple Florida State University (FSU) alumnus Dr. Pablo Correa and School of Communication Associate Professor Dr. Brian Graves both served as instructors for the program while Dr. Davis Houck, the College’s Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies, served as the academic coordinator. Houck spoke on FSU’s involvement, stating, “It’s important to know just how much influence FSU has in this program. Whether it’s Dr. Correa, Dr. Graves, myself, or some of our recent graduates, FSU has a strong presence in the Delta. I take the title Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies very seriously. Mrs. Hamer had a special mission for children and the urgent need to develop their whole selves, physically, mentally and spiritually. We continue to do that work.”

Correa discussed the powerful impact of the Sunflower County Film Academy, saying, “Often black and minority stories are underrepresented in the news or represented in a negative light. Empowering black youth to tell their own stories through media and digital arts allows them to shape the narrative of their lives and gives them the professional level skills to enter into media fields where there is a lack of minority representation. The summer workshop has led to quite a few students from the Mississippi Delta seeing college as an option when they haven’t considered it before, especially digital media/film majors within a college environment.”