One of the best documentary series ever produced, Eyes on the Prize is a 14-part study of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. This series is so important because it shows how ordinary people, when organized, can affect dramatic social change.

The Civil Rights Movement remains the most inspiring example of successful social movements in the United States, breaking down the evil system of racial segregation and opening up possibilities for Black people, as well as for other races, that never existed before. It’s important to remember that 50 years ago, most African Americans could not vote, but now we have a Black President.

Obviously the work of the Civil Rights Movement remains unfinished, as we still live in a racist society with many other severe social problems caused by capitalism as well. But as Eyes on the Prize displays so dramatically, the hope we seek lies not in politicians but in our very own hands. We must learn from the past in order to change the future.

I watched episode 1 today and will be viewing the others over the next few weeks. Would you like to watch and discuss the series with me? Please respond by leaving a comment!

Love and struggle,

alex

p.s. anyone know how to embed these videos on WordPress?

Episode 1: Awakenings (1954-1956)

Subjects: Origins of the Civil Rights Movement, Segregation, Black Soldiers in World War II, Brown v. Board of Education, Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King Jr, White Citizens Council, Ku Klux Klan, White Allies

Episode 2: Fighting Back (1957-1962)

Subjects: NAACP, Integration v. Segregation, Little Rock AR, The Little Rock 9, James Meredith, University of Mississippi

Episode 3: Ain’t Scared of Your Jails (1960-1961)

Subjects: Student Sit-ins, Nashville TN, Direct Action, Civil Disobedience, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Ella Baker, Boycott Movement, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Freedom Rides, Southern Jails

Episode 4: No Easy Walk (1961-1963)

Subjects: Martin Luther King Jr, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Freedom Songs, Albany GA, Bull Connor, Birmingham AL, Fire Hoses and Dogs, John Lewis, March on Washington, John F. Kennedy, Civil Rights Act

Episode 5: Mississippi: Is This America? (1962-1964)

Subjects: Medgar Evers, Murder of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner, SNCC, Voting Registration Drives, Mississippi Freedom Summer, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Failure of the Democratic Party

[This is the BEST video in the series. What SNCC did in Mississippi changed America forever.]

Episode 6: Bridge to Freedom (1965)

Subjects: Voting Rights Movement, Selma, AL, March from Selma to Montgomery, Lyndon B. Johnson, Voting Rights Act

Episode 7: The Time Has Come (1964-1966)

Subjects: Malcolm X, Nation of Islam, Lowndes County Freedom Organization, Stokely Carmichael, Black Power, March Against Fear, James Meredith

Episode 8: Two Societies (1965-1968)

Subjects: Urban Rebellions, Martin Luther King Jr, Housing, Chicago IL, Richard Daley, Watts CA, Detroit MI, Kerner Commission

Episode 9: Power (1966-1968)

Subjects: Black Power, Carl Stokes, Cleveland OH, Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Oakland CA, Education, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Brooklyn NY

Episode 10: The Promised Land (1967-1968)

Subjects: Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, Vietnam War, Poor People’s Campaign, Resurrection City, Washington DC, Sanitation Workers, Memphis TN

Episode 11: Ain’t Gonna Shuffle No More (1964-1972)

Subjects: Muhammad Ali, Black Consciousness, African Heritage, Howard University, National Black Political Convention, Gary IN

Episode 12: A Nation of Law? (1968-1971)

Subjects: Fred Hampton, Black Panther Party, Chicago IL, Police/State Repression, Attica Prison Rebellion

Episode 13: The Keys to the Kingdom (1974-1980)

Subjects: Boston School Busing Controversy, Maynard Jackson, Atlanta GA, Affirmative Action, Allan Bakke

Episode 14: Back to the Movement (1979-1985)

Subjects: Miami 1980 Riot, Harold Washington, Chicago, Unemployment, Gangs, Jesse Jackson, Operation PUSH, New Hope