Son of the South (film)

Bob Zellner is the son of a Methodist minister, a senior attending all-white Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama in 1961. Seeking information with which to write research papers on race relations, Zellner and four fellow students attend a event held in a Black church to mark the fifth anniversary of the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott. The event is conducted by Ralph Abernathy and Rosa Parks. When police arrive to arrest them, the white students evade arrest by fleeing through a back door. Dubbed the 'Huntingdon Five' in a newspaper, a cross is burned on the yard outside Zellner's room. Zellner's klansman grandfather warns him not to involve himself in the civil rights movement.

Witnessing a mob attack on the Freedom Riders, Zellner helps Jessica Mitford get to safety.

At first a passive supporter of the movement, Zellner goes on to become SNCC's first white field secretary.

In February 2019, it was announced Barry Alexander Brown would direct the film, from a screenplay he wrote, while Colin Bates, Eve Pomerance, Bill Black, Stan Erdreich will serve as producers on the film, while Spike Lee and Frank Barwah will serve as executive producers.[3] In April 2019, Lucas Till, Lucy Hale, Lex Scott Davis, Julia Ormond, Cedric the Entertainer, Mike Manning, Sharonne Lainer, Brian Dennehy, Chaka Forman, Shamier Anderson, Jake Abel, Ludi Lin,[4] Onye Eme-Akwari, Dexter Darden, and Matt William Knowles[5] joined the cast of the film.[6][7][8][9][10]

Principal photography began in April 2019.[11][12]