Eyes on the Prize I

VHS, 60 min. each, 1987, Study guide available CC

Six part comprehensive television documentary on the American civil rights movement, 1954-1965. The series focuses on the people, the events, and the issues of those turbulent years.

1. Awakenings (1954-1956) - Highlights of the events that began the modern black freedom struggle.

2. Fighting Back (1957-1962) Federal Troops in front of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas - Exploration of the lawsuits brought by parents on behalf of their children when blacks rejected the notion of "separate but equal" education.

3. Ain't Scared of Your Jails (1960-1961) - Four related stories are explored: the lunch counter sit-ins of 1960; the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC; the impact of the movement on the 1960 presidential campaign; and the freedom rides of 1961.

4. No Easy Walk (1962-66) - The civil rights phenomenon is placed in a broad historical context, describing the growing commitment of activists to nonviolent tactics.

5. Mississippi: Is This America? (1962-1964) - Focuses on the extraordinary personal risks faced by ordinary citizens as they assumed responsibility for social change, particularly the 1962-1964 voting rights campaign inMore than 25,000 marchers joined the historic march from Selma to Montgomery. Mississippi.

6. Bridge to Freedom (1965) - Highlights the historic fifty mile march for freedom in Selma, Alabama as the last great gathering of the southern-based movement, and provides an opportunity to examine the gains made by the civil rights protests.