An in-depth documentary series on civil rights in America titled “Eyes on the Prize” will be screening weekly at the Peterborough Community Theatre beginning Tuesday, Sept. 13 and running through Tuesday, Oct. 18.
“Eyes on the Prize” recounts the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation in the United States. It tells the story of the people—young and old, male and female, northern and southern—who worked to eradicate a world where whites and blacks could not participate equally in society.
“With the marking of the 51st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and the 61st anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, our nation’s civil rights history is front and center as part of an essential dialogue,” Carol Nelson, owner of Peterborough Community Theatre, said in a press release. “Eyes on the Prize can provide perspective for a new generation and be a touchstone for those who lived through the decades depicted.”
Claudette Colvin – who at 15 refused to give up her bus seat to a white person and whose lawsuit went on to challenge and end segregation on buses – will participate in a post-screening discussion at the Sept. 13 showing.
The series of six, 60-minute films are presented in partnership with the public television’s WORLD Channel. The films revisit key historical moments and explore common threads with current national events, asking questions and drawing comparisons about the struggle to achieve equality today.
Seating is limited; please RSVP to movies@pctmovies.com.
“Eyes on the Prize” documentary series screenings:
Episode 1 – Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Awakenings 1954 – 1956
Individual acts of courage inspire black Southerners to fight for their rights: Mose Wright testifies against the white men who murdered young Emmett Till, and Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.
Episode 2 – Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.
Fighting Back 1957 – 1962
States’ rights, loyalists, and federal authorities collide in the 1957 battle to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School, and again in James Meredith’s 1962 challenge to segregation at the University of Mississippi.