Movies And Specials: 'Eyes On The Prize III: We Who Believe In Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015'

Synopsis: Inspired by Henry Hampton’s legendary documentary series “Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement,” this new installment of the groundbreaking 1987 series illuminates the bold stories of people and communities who continue to work for equity and racial justice in the years since the birth of the American civil rights movement.

This new chapter of the iconic series begins in the late 1970s and continues into 2015, with episodes examining the strategies of those who fought for racial equality across multiple decades. As in the original production, diverse teams of acclaimed filmmakers bring each story to life by showcasing the work of citizens in an ever-more multicultural society working to achieve true equity.

Presenting contemporary history in context with archival footage and intimate interviews with those who personally participated in collective movements, the series is a wide-ranging meditation about the ongoing struggle for freedom, racial justice, and equity in the years since the civil rights movement, reflecting untold stories of the people and communities fighting for a better future in a changing America. (Courtesy HBO, 2025)

The Cast:

Production Credits:
HBO Documentary Films presents Eyes On The Prize III: We Who Believe In Freedom Cannot Rest an Anonymous Content and Blackside production in association with Trilogy Films; series producer Asako Gladsjo; executive produced by Dawn Porter, Joy Gorman Wettels, Bedonna Smith, Patrisse Cullors, Mervyn Marcano, Judi Hampton, Sandra Forman. For HBO: executive producers, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Sara Rodriguez.

The Episodes:
1-01 America, Don’t Look Away 1977-1988--02/25/2025
Episode one chronicles community activists in New York’s South Bronx and Philadelphia fighting for fair housing and healthcare at the tail end of the Carter administration and through the rise of Reaganomics and the AIDS crisis.
Written by:
Directed by: Greta Gandbhir
Featured Participants: Community activists Robert Foster, Carol Waring, Leon Potts, Allen Pierce, and Harry DeRienzo; former Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer; former commissioner of public health Estelle Richman; AIDS activist and Bebashi founder Rashidah Abdul-Khabeer; AIDS activists Tyrone Smith, David Fair, and Michael Hinson; former mayor of Philadelphia W. Wilson Goode.

1-02 Trapped: 1989-1995--02/25/2025
Episode two documents  the criminal justice system profiling public defenders in Washington D.C. and local organizers in South Central Los Angeles who sound the alarm about institutional structures and policies that disproportionately affect the Black community.
Written by:
Directed by: Samantha Knowles
Featured Participants: Activists Aqeela Sherrills and Skipp Townsend; congresswoman Maxine Waters; public defenders Kim Taylor-Thompson, James Forman, Jr. and Robert Wilkins; Coalition Against Police Abuse (CAPA) member Mabie Settlage; deputy drug czar Reggie Walton; and assistant U.S. attorney D.C. L. Jackson Thomas.

1-03 Million Man March 1995--02/26/2025
Episode three chronicles the controversy and community inspired by the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C. that came to be a transformative experience for many of the men who traveled in from around the nation to participate.
Written by:
Directed by: Muta’Ali
Feature participants: Former executive director NAACP Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.; activist Reverend Al Sharpton; journalist Michael Cottman; U.C. Santa Cruz professor emerita Angela Davis; youth mentor Jimmy Cunningham; attorney Roderick Terry; march organizer E. Faye Williams; march attendees Bobby Sykes, Ron Thompson, John Davi Ervin, Jr., and Katina Parker; White House speechwriter J. Terry Edwards;  congressman Kweisi Mfume; photographer Jason Miccolo Johnson; and public speaker Ayinde Jean-Baptiste.

1-04 Spoil The Vine 1982-2011--02/26/2025
Episode four explores the growing environmental justice movement as local activists in West Virginia and Florida fight threats to their communities’ health and survival.
Written by:
Directed by: Rudy Valdez
Featured participants: United Church of Christ commissioner for racial justice Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr.; activists Sue Ferguson Davis, Kathy Ferguson, and Pam Nixon; environmental justice activist Dr. Robert Bullard; director of environmental justice at United Church of Christ Charles Lee; Citzens Against Toxic Exposure (CATE) activists Francine Ishmael, Frances Dunham, and Eddie Ishmael; former vice president and environmental activist Al Gore.

1-05 We Don’t See Color 1996-2013--02/27/2025
Episode five explores the complexities of affirmative action policies and how a changing demographic landscape affected school desegregation in new ways.
Written by:
Directed by: Smriti Mundhra
Featured participants: UCLA School of Law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw; By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) chairperson Shanta Driver; University of Michigan Law School professor Ted Shaw; Advancement Project executive director Judith Browne Dianis; organizers Yevonne Brannon, Erika Wilson, Rasheda Kilpatrick, Amelia Lumpkin, Adrienne Lumpkin, Samantha Lumpkin, Rev. Nancy Petty, and Mary D. Williams; University of Michigan former president Lee Bollinger; senior research scholar Timothy Tyson; former Wake County superintendent Bill McNeal; former school board members Keith Sutton and John Tedesco; former president of North Carolina NAACP Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II.

1-06 What Comes After Hope? 2008-2015--02/27/2025
Episode six chronicles the years of America’s first Black president, when, despite hope for significant societal change, police brutality soared and a new movement under the banner #BlackLivesMatter emerged.
Written by:
Directed by: Asako Gladsjo
Featured participants: Organizers Jonathan Lykes, Nelini Stamp, Charlene A. Carruthers, Asha Ransby-Sporn, and Ahmad Abuznaid; Dream Defenders co-founders Phillip Agnew, Ciara Taylor, and Jonel Edwards; Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) co-founders Damon Williams, Breanna Champion, and Johnaé Strong; Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founders Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors; former Florida state senator Dwight Bullard; U.C. Santa Cruz professor emerita Angela Davis; BlackOUT Collective co-director Chinyere Tutashinda; Advancement Project executive director Judith Browne Dianis; activist Rev. Al Sharpton; University of Chicago professor Cathy Cohen, PHD.; and Advancement Project lawyer Alana Greer.