He's won a host of awards, including five Primetime Emmys, and was honored with the National Medal in the Humanities from President Obama in 2013. Stanley Nelson is a leading documentarian of the African American experience. Stanley Nelson joins us today, along with Arthur Harrison, who was incarcerated in Attica at the time and was interviewed for the film.
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Curry, tracked down remarkable archive footage of the events and interviewed dozens of firsthand witnesses and participants, including many prisoners and family members of correctional officers. The story of the Attica uprising is told in a new documentary from filmmaker Stanley Nelson, who with co-producer and co-director Traci A. The uprising ended in a bloody assault by prison authorities in which 39 prisoners and hostages were killed, all by law enforcement gunfire. And prison officials and an observers' committee invited by inmates also told their stories in the media. State police have regained control of most of the prison, but the trouble isn't over yet.ĭAVIES: The standoff at Attica became a national drama as reporters and TV cameras were allowed inside the prison yard, where prisoners denounced the living conditions they said were inhumane. They also seized 33 guards as hostages and injured others in the fighting. And they gained control of the maximum security prison. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In Attica, N.Y., about 1,000 long-term convicts today rioted. history, which occurred 50 years ago last month. Today we're going to hear about the largest prison revolt in U.S. I'm Dave Davies, in today for Terry Gross.