Eyes on the Prize

Broadcast

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. Grants from the Ford Foundation and Gilder Foundation enabled Blackside and the rights clearance team to renew rights in 2005. 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, and rebroadcast the second eight hours in February 2008. 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. 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.

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.

Episodes

''America's Civil Rights Years 1954–1965''

''America at the Racial Crossroads 1965–1985''

Book

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.

Reception

The series has been hailed by numerous critics as more than just a historical document.

Awards

Both Eyes on the Prize and Eyes on the Prize II won Peabody Awards and Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Awards.

The series also won six Emmy Awards.

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.

References

References

1. [https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/41906/eyes-on-the-prize-americas-civil-rights-years-1954-1965/ DVD Talk]
2. (January 21, 2025). "What's New On Max This February".
3. [https://www.documentary.org/feature/eyes-rights-rising-cost-putting-history-screen Sheila Curran Bernard, "Eyes on the Rights - The Rising Cost of Putting History on Screen"], ''Documentary Online Magazine,'' June 05 Issue, International Documentary Association. Retrieved 2021-6-27.
4. Katie Dean. (2005-08-30). "Cash Rescues Eyes on the Prize".
5. [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/eyesontheprize/ A Special Presentation of American Experience: Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement, 1954–1985], PBS.org. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
6. [https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/pbs-celebrates-black-history-month-january-10-2008/ PBS News: PBS Celebrates Black History Month with an Extensive Lineup of Special Programming], PBS.org. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
7. [https://pbsdistribution.org/shop-pbs/?productId=2428602 PBS Education - Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement DVD 7PK - AV Item]
8. "Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1954-1965 (Season 1) DVD".
9. Williams, Juan. (2013). "Eyes on the prize : America's civil rights years, 1954-1965. 25th anniversary ed". Penguin Books.
10. Goodman, Walter. (1987-01-22). "TV Reviews; 'Eyes on the Prize, on Rights". The New York Times.
11. (January 20, 1987). "'Eyes on the Prize': reliving the civil rights struggle". Christian Science Monitor.
12. "Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years".
13. "Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads (1965-1985)".
14. "The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards".
15. (2016-01-17). "Landmark civil rights documentary 'Eyes on the Prize' returns to TV".
16. "[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1988 1988]", Oscars.org.
17. (April 11, 1988). "The Ten-Year Lunch Wins Documentary Feature: 1988 Oscars".