Presents the inside story of the making of one of the most important and influential TV shows in history and of its legacy as the film that reframed the entire history of the Civil Rights movement permanently.

"In January 1987, people across America were riveted by a startling new television series about the civil rights era. Moving beyond telegenic black leaders and white politicians, Eyes on the Prize introduced ordinary people--mostly African American, few well known--who risked it all to stand up and fight for their rights and for justice. Henry Hampton and his producers shifted the focus from victimization to strength, from white saviors to black courage. They recovered the lost names and images--Selma and Montgomery, Emmett Till and Little Rock, pickets and fire hoses, ballot boxes and mass meetings. Jon Else was the series producer for Eyes on the Prize, and his compelling book captures the tumultuous creation process behind what became one of the most important TV shows in history. Like Hampton and other key staffers, Else was himself a veteran of the movement, and the book braids together tales from their own experiences as civil rights workers in the South in the 1960s as well as documentary makers in the 1980s. It's a story where many themes cross: the challenges to perfect a new telling of African American history, the complex mechanics of making documentaries, the rise of social justice films, and the politics of television and funding for a controversial topic. Else explains how Hampton was not afraid to show the movement's raw realities: conflicts between secular and religious leaders, the shift toward black power, electoral politics, rebellion, and self-defense. It is all on the screen, and the fight to get it all into the films seemed at times almost as ferocious as the history being depicted. True South honors how this eloquent, plainspoken series changed the way social history is told, taught, and remembered today; the way nonfiction film is made; and the way we think about the legacies of those eventful years."--Jacket.