Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
On September 9, 1971, over 1,200 inmates at the Attica correctional facility in upstate New York seized control of the maximum-security prison, took over three dozen hostages, and demanded humane treatment and better conditions. The world watched as TV news cameras from both inside and outside the prison recorded the events. When negotiations stalled, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered law enforcement to retake the prison, resulting in a massacre that left 29 inmates and 10 hostages dead. Today, it still stands as the largest and deadliest prison rebellion the country has ever witnessed. The film explores the tensions between a young, radicalized population of mostly Black and Latino inmates and correctional officers from a predominately white company town, where the prison was the primary employer for generations of families On its 50th anniversary, the new documentary “Attica,” goes beyond recounting of the five days of rebellion, to offer a broader understanding of the Attica tragedy in the crosscurrents of politics, race, power, and punishment during the early 1970s. Survivors, observers, and expert government officials recount the uprising that gripped America then and highlights the urgent and ongoing need for criminal justice reform now.
Director Stanley Nelson and co-director Traci Curry examine the inmates’ demands for recognition of their humanity at the culmination of a moment where racial-justice activists embraced prisoner rights as an extension of their fight for civil rights. During an interview led by Christopher Wilson Executive Director of the History Film Forum directors Nelson and Curry offer insights into the making of this timely feature-length film and the enduring impact of the Attica rebellion half a century later.
Presented by the Smithsonian Associates and Smithsonian's National Museum of American History through generous support of Dan Manatt.
Check out more conversations in our History Film Forum Playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=d2tVIwsCATg&list=PLZxSSLX6InCRmlPrctSgjGfZgsab4GzbS
For more information about History Film Forum visit: https://historyfilmforum.si.edu/
On September 9, 1971, over 1,200 inmates at the Attica correctional facility in upstate New York seized control of the maximum-security prison, took over three dozen hostages, and demanded humane treatment and better conditions. The world watched as TV news cameras from both inside and outside the prison recorded the events. When negotiations stalled, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered law enforcement to retake the prison, resulting in a massacre that left 29 inmates and 10 hostages dead. Today, it still stands as the largest and deadliest prison rebellion the country has ever witnessed. The film explores the tensions between a young, radicalized population of mostly Black and Latino inmates and correctional officers from a predominately white company town, where the prison was the primary employer for generations of families On its 50th anniversary, the new documentary “Attica,” goes beyond recounting of the five days of rebellion, to offer a broader understanding of the Attica tragedy in the crosscurrents of politics, race, power, and punishment during the early 1970s. Survivors, observers, and expert government officials recount the uprising that gripped America then and highlights the urgent and ongoing need for criminal justice reform now.
Director Stanley Nelson and co-director Traci Curry examine the inmates’ demands for recognition of their humanity at the culmination of a moment where racial-justice activists embraced prisoner rights as an extension of their fight for civil rights. During an interview led by Christopher Wilson Executive Director of the History Film Forum directors Nelson and Curry offer insights into the making of this timely feature-length film and the enduring impact of the Attica rebellion half a century later.
Presented by the Smithsonian Associates and Smithsonian's National Museum of American History through generous support of Dan Manatt.
Check out more conversations in our History Film Forum Playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=d2tVIwsCATg&list=PLZxSSLX6InCRmlPrctSgjGfZgsab4GzbS
For more information about History Film Forum visit: https://historyfilmforum.si.edu/
