Eyes on the Prize | |
---|---|
Also known as | Eyes on the Prize I Eyes on the Prize II |
Genre | Documentary film |
Directed by | Orlando Bagwell Sheila Curran Bernard Callie Crossley James A. DeVinney Madison D. Lacy Louis Massiah Thomas Ott Samuel D. Pollard Terry Kay Rockefeller Jacqueline Shearer Paul Stekler Judith Vecchione |
Narrated by | Julian Bond |
Opening theme | " Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 14 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Henry Hampton |
Production location | United States |
Editors |
Lillian Benson Betty Ciccarelli Daniel Eisenberg Jeanne Jordan Thomas Ott Charles Scott |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company | Blackside |
Original release | |
Network | PBS |
Release | January 21, 1987 March 5, 1990 | –
Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement is an American television series and 14-part documentary about the 20th-century civil rights movement in the United States. [1] The documentary originally aired on the PBS network, and it also aired in the United Kingdom on BBC2. Created and executive produced by Henry Hampton at his film production company Blackside, and narrated by Julian Bond, the series uses archival footage, stills, and interviews by participants and opponents of the movement. The title of the series is derived from the title of the folk song " Keep Your Eyes on the Prize", which is used as the opening theme music in each episode.
The series won a number of Emmy Awards, Peabody Awards, and was nominated for an Oscar.
A total of 14 episodes of Eyes on the Prize were produced in two separate parts. The first part, Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1954–1965, chronicles the time period between the United States Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965. It consists of six episodes, which premiered on January 21, 1987, and concluded on February 25, 1987. The second part, Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads 1965–1985, chronicles the time period from the national emergence of Malcolm X in 1964 to the 1983 election of Harold Washington as the first African-American mayor of Chicago. It consists of eight episodes, which aired on January 15, 1990 and ended on March 5, 1990. The documentary was made widely available to educators on VHS tape. All 14 hours were re-released on DVD in 2006 by PBS.
The film originated as two sequential projects. Part one, six hours long, was shown on PBS in early 1987 as Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1954–1965. Eight more hours were broadcast in 1990 as Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads 1965–1985.
In 1992, the documentary was released on home video. By the mid-1990s, both rebroadcasts and home video distribution were halted for several years due to expiration of rights and licenses of copyrighted archive footage, photographs and music used in the series. Copyright holders were demanding increasingly higher rates. [2] Grants from the Ford Foundation and Gilder Foundation enabled Blackside and the rights clearance team to renew rights in 2005. [3] While the return of Eyes on the Prize to public television and the educational market depended on the contributions of many, four individuals in particular are credited with achieving the complicated undertaking of rights renewals and the re-release of the series: Sandra Forman, Legal Counsel and Project Director; Cynthia Meagher Kuhn, Archivist and Rights Coordinator; Rena Kosersky, Music Supervisor; and Judi Hampton, President of Blackside and sister of Henry Hampton. None of the archival material in the fourteen-hour documentary was removed or altered in any way.
PBS rebroadcast the first six hours on American Experience on three consecutive Mondays in October 2006, [4] and rebroadcast the second eight hours in February 2008. [5] After a gap of almost eight years, Eyes on the Prize was rebroadcast on World Channel on fourteen consecutive Sundays beginning on January 17, 2016.
PBS reissued an educational version of the series in the fall of 2006, making it available on DVD for the first time. [6] It is now available to educational institutions and libraries from PBS on seven DVDs or seven VHS tapes. A consumer version of part one (1954–1965) was released in March 2010. [7]
The licensing issues from 1993 to 2006 generated what was called Eyes on the Screen, an effort to disseminate the series by file sharing networks without regard to copyright restrictions.
No. overall |
No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Awakenings (1954–1956)" | Judith Vecchione | Steve Fayer | January 21, 1987 | |
2 | 2 | "Fighting Back (1957–1962)" | Judith Vecchione | Steve Fayer | January 28, 1987 | |
Chronicles the school desegregation effort at
Central High School by the
Little Rock Nine in
Arkansas from 1957 to 1958 and the later school desegregation effort at the
University of Mississippi by
James Meredith during the
Ole Miss riot of 1962. | ||||||
3 | 3 | "Ain't Scared of Your Jails (1960–1961)" | Orlando Bagwell | Steve Fayer | February 4, 1987 | |
Covers the
Nashville sit-ins and
boycotts that sought to end
racial segregation at lunch counters in
Tennessee and the
Freedom Riders efforts to end segregation on interstate transportation and terminals throughout the
southern United States. | ||||||
4 | 4 | "No Easy Walk (1961–1963)" | Callie Crossley & James A. DeVinney | Callie Crossley, James A. DeVinney, & Steve Fayer | February 11, 1987 | |
Examines the failed attempt by the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in
Albany, Georgia to end racial segregation and the subsequent lessons learned to win a major victory in
Birmingham, Alabama during the
Birmingham campaign. The film also covers the
March on Washington, one of the largest
political rallies for civil rights in the
history of the United States. | ||||||
5 | 5 | "Mississippi: Is This America? (1962–1964)" | Orlando Bagwell | Steve Fayer | February 18, 1987 | |
Chronicles the murder of
Medgar Evers in 1963 and the
murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in 1964 in
Mississippi. The film also covers the
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) attendance at the
Democratic National Convention in
Atlantic City during the
United States presidential election of 1964. | ||||||
6 | 6 | "Bridge to Freedom (1965)" | Callie Crossley & James A. DeVinney | Callie Crossley, James A. DeVinney, & Steve Fayer | February 25, 1987 | |
Examines the effort to restore voting rights in
Selma, Alabama during the
Selma to Montgomery marches. |
No. overall |
No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 1 | "The Time Has Come (1964–66)" | James A. DeVinney & Madison D. Lacy | James A. DeVinney & Madison D. Lacy | January 15, 1990 | |
Examines a lead member of the
Nation of Islam -
Malcolm X. It also chronicles the political organizing work of the
Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) in Alabama and the shooting of
James Meredith during the
March Against Fear. | ||||||
8 | 2 | "Two Societies (1965–68)" | Sheila Curran Bernard & Samuel D. Pollard | Sheila Curran Bernard, Steve Fayer, & Samuel D. Pollard | January 22, 1990 | |
Follows
Martin Luther King Jr. during the
Chicago Freedom Movement in
Illinois, and the tumultuous
Detroit Riot of 1967 in
Michigan as well as the
1965 Watts Riot in
California. | ||||||
9 | 3 | "Power! (1966–68)" | Louis J. Massiah & Terry Kay Rockefeller | Steve Fayer, Louis J. Massiah, & Terry Kay Rockefeller | January 29, 1990 | |
Chronicles the election of
Carl Stokes as the mayor of
Cleveland and one of the
first two African Americans to become mayor of a major U.S. city. The film also covers the formation of the
Black Panther Party (BPP) and community control of the
Ocean Hill-
Brownsville school district in
Brooklyn during the
New York City teachers' strike of 1968. | ||||||
10 | 4 | "The Promised Land (1967–68)" | Jacqueline Shearer & Paul Stekler | Steve Fayer, Jacqueline Shearer, & Paul Stekler | February 5, 1990 | |
Chronicles the final years of
Martin Luther King Jr.'s life. It also covers the
Poor People's Campaign and Resurrection City in
Washington, D.C. | ||||||
11 | 5 | "Ain't Gonna Shuffle No More (1964–72)" | Sheila Curran Bernard & Samuel D. Pollard | Sheila Curran Bernard, Steve Fayer, & Samuel D. Pollard | February 15, 1990 | |
Chronicles the emergence of boxer
Muhammad Ali, the student movement at
Howard University, and the gathering of the
National Black Political Convention in
Gary, Indiana. | ||||||
12 | 6 | "A Nation of Law? (1968–71)" | Louis J. Massiah, Thomas Ott, & Terry Kay Rockefeller | Steve Fayer, Louis J. Massiah, Thomas Ott, & Terry Kay Rockefeller | February 19, 1990 | |
Chronicles the leadership and assassination of
Fred Hampton of the
Black Panther Party (BPP) in
Chicago. The second part of the film covers the
Attica Prison riot in
Attica, New York. | ||||||
13 | 7 | "The Keys to the Kingdom (1974–80)" | Jacqueline Shearer & Paul Stekler | Steve Fayer, Jacqueline Shearer, & Paul Stekler | February 26, 1990 | |
The documentary examines the
Boston school desegregation crisis involving busing in
Massachusetts. The second part of the film chronicles the election of
Maynard Jackson as mayor of
Atlanta and the
first African American to become mayor of a major U.S. city in the
southern United States. The last part of the film examines
affirmative action and the landmark
United States Supreme Court ruling
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978). | ||||||
14 | 8 | "Back to the Movement (1979–mid 80s)" | James A. DeVinney & Madison D. Lacy | James A. DeVinney, Steve Fayer, & Madison D. Lacy | March 5, 1990 | |
Covers the
Miami riot of 1980 and the election of
Harold Washington as the first African-American mayor of
Chicago. The film finishes with an overview of the
Civil Rights Movement and its effect upon the United States and the world. |
External videos | |
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Interview with Juan Williams on Eyes on the Prize, February 3, 1987, C-SPAN |
The book Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954–1965 was created as a companion volume to the series during post-production by the producers and publishing staff at Blackside, Inc. They were assisted by Juan Williams, a journalist with The Washington Post. First published by Viking Press in 1987, the book used a portion of the iconic photograph of the Selma to Montgomery march taken by Look magazine photographer James Karales on its cover. [8]
The series has been hailed by numerous critics [9] [10] as more than just a historical document.
Both Eyes on the Prize and Eyes on the Prize II won Peabody Awards and Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Awards. [11] [12] [13]
The series also won six Emmy Awards. [14]
Episode six, Bridge to Freedom, produced by Callie Crossley and James A. DeVinney, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1988 during the 60th Academy Awards. [15] [16]