Parts 3 and 4 of (the must-see) Eyes on

Parts 3 and 4 of (the must-see) Eyes on the Prize are on tonight...here's a look at the difficulties the filmmakers went through to get the rights to all the material in the film cleared again. (thx, david)

Books on the American civil rights movement

At the end of my Eyes on the Prize post from earlier this week, I asked people for their favorite books on the American civil rights movement. Here's what I got back:

• Lots of people recommended America in the King Years by Taylor Branch, a trilogy of books on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement.
• The second most frequently recommended book was Common Ground by J.A. Lukas, a book about busing and segregation in Boston in the 70s.
• Walking With the Wind by John Lewis and Michael D'Orso.
• Carry Me Home by Diane McWhorter.
• Old news: Resurrection City by Jill Freedman.
• The Civil Rights Movement: A Photographic History, 1954-68 by Steven Kasher.
• Stride Toward Freedom and Why We Can't Wait by Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Eyes on the Prize by Juan Williams.
• Black Boy and Native Son by Richard Wright.
• Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Raymond Arsenault. (Eric Etheridge is photographing the Freedom Riders and pairing those photos with their Freedom Ride mugshots for a new book.)
• The Promised Land by Nick Lemann.
• You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train by Howard Zinn.
• We Are Not Afraid by Seth Cagin and Philip Dray.
• Notes of a Native Son, The Fire Next Time, and Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin.
• A Short History of Reconstruction by Eric Foner.
• The Struggle for Black Equality by Harvard Sitkoff.
• Angela Davis An Autobiography by Angela Davis.
• Death at an Early Age by Jonathan Kozol.
• The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois.
• Southern Horrors and Other Writings by Ida B. Wells Barnett.
• Civilities and Civil Rights by William Chafe.
• I've Got the Light of Freedom by Charles Payne.
• Local People by John Dittmer.
• Speak Now Against the Day by John Egerton.
• Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown.
• Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
• Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves.
• I've Got the Light of Freedom by Charles Payne
• Local People by John Dittmer
• Speak Now Against the Day by John Egerton

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations; these all sound great.

Eyes on the Prize

I posted a link to this earlier, but after watching the first two hours earlier this evening, I must strongly caution against missing Eyes on the Prize on PBS this month. Using nothing more than archival film footage, on-camera interviews, period music, and a narrator's voiceover, the stories of Emmitt Till, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the desegregation of southern schools riveted me to the couch like few viewing experiences have. As compelling as the history of the civil rights movement in America is, the production of the film deserves some of the credit for its power. To hear the stories of these momentous events told by the participants themselves, without embellishment, is quite extraordinary. From a media perspective, watching Eyes on the Prize gives me hope that we can survive the era of the crescendoing musical scores and 20-cuts-per-minute editing and still tell powerful, engaging stories without worrying about window dressing. I won't soon forget the calm determination in the look and voice of Moses Wright or Mississippi governor Ross Barnett thundering away about segregation.

(For me, Eyes is also a nice companion piece to my twin obsessions of late, The Wire and The Blind Side, both of which deal with contemporary race relations in their own way. The PBS web site for the film lists dozens of resources for further exploration of the topic...does anyone have any specific recommendations for books about the civil rights movement? Lemme know.)

Update: Thanks for the recommendations, everyone...I posted a listing of them here.

Must see/TiVo TV: for the first

Must see/TiVo TV: for the first time in years, PBS is airing Eyes on the Prize, a 14-hour series on the American civil rights movement. (via steve)