Eyes on the Prize
(1987)

Director: Henry Hampton

Key Cast: The series is narrated by Julian Bond.  It contains actual footage of many well-known (and unknown) people involved in various stages of the civil rights movement. 

Rating: Not Rated

Genre(s): Documentary

"Eyes on the Prize"
Intro/Overview Video

"Eyes on the Prize" is considered the definitive documentary on the African-American civil rights movement in the United States.

Through actual news footage and interviews, the series covers the struggles and strides of African-Americans for almost four decades.  "Eyes on the Prize" consists of fourteen programs. 

The fourteen programs in the "Eyes on the Prize" documentary series are:
Awakenings (1954-1956)
Fighting Back (1957-1962)
Ain't Scared of Your Jails (1960-1961)
No Easy Walk (1961-1963)
Mississippi: Is This America? (1963-1964)
Bridge to Freedom (1965)
The Time Has Come (1964-66)
Two Societies (1965-68)
Power! (1966-68)
The Promised Land (1967-68)
Ain't Gonna Shuffle No More (1964-72)
A Nation of Law? (1968-71)
The Keys to the Kingdom (1974-80)
Back to the Movement (1979-mid 80s)

Narrated by Julian Bond, "Eyes on the Prize" will take you through African-American history in the United States like no other documentary about this time can.

Lauded by historians and critics alike, "Eyes on the Prize" is a documentary not to be missed!

•  Henry Hampton was the driving force behind the creation of Eyes on the Prize.  In 1968, he founded Blackside Inc., and it took him over twelve years to produce Eyes on the Prize.  Blackside Inc. is one of the oldest minority-owned film and television production companies in America.

•  "Eyes on the Prize" contains over 100 songs and historical footage from more than 80 different footage sources.

•  Eyes on the Prize was first broadcast on television in 1987.  Only the first six programs covering the time periods 1954-1965 were aired.  Then in 1990, Eyes on the Prize was rebroadcast and the last eight programs covering the time periods 1965-1985 was aired.

•  The "Eyes on the Prize" documentary was watched by over 20 million people each time it was shown.

•  Because of copyright laws and licensing restrictions, Eyes on the Prize has not been available for sale in the United States for many years.  Now, through grants from foundations like The Ford Foundation, DVD copies of the series with teaching materials are available for educational use.

•  "Eyes on the Prize" has won over 40 major awards.

•  The "Eyes on the Prize" documentary series has won six Emmy Awards including a 1987 Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming.

•  Won the 1987 International Documentary Association’s Distinguished Documentary Award.

•  Won a 1987 Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in News and Information.

•  Nominated for a 1988 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Features.

Buy the "Eyes on the Prize" DVD Series
If you really want to get an exhaustive understanding of
the Civil Rights Movement, then you should see the
"Eyes on the Prize" documentary series.

This award-winning documentary series provides the
most in-depth historical account of this pivotal time in
African-American history.

Also available at Netflix!
You can rent this entire series from Netflix, too.
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Eyes on the Prize (Book) by Juan Williams
This book is considered one of the best introductions to the Civil Rights Years and was done in conjunction with the Eyes on the Prize PBS series.  

Buy Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement (Book) by Juan Williams

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