Eyes on the Prize: Awakenings 1954-1956

1) The author of the video is showing the viewer how African Americans were treated unfairly, and what they did in response in order to change the future.

2) The author showed racial inequality by starting out with the story of Emmett Till. Emmett Till was killed by two southern men after saying hello to a white girl, while visiting the south. Society decided to keep the court case in the news to show how the south was full of racism. The video showed how society conformed to segregation and chose to not try to change the situation because that was what they were used to in the south. The video showed that the blacks were treated badly by whites of southern society, and this was shown through having everything separate, and by the way that the blacks were treated in society. The video showed that since society had conformed to segregation, the white southerners did not like how the blacks were trying to gain their rights in society. The video showed what happened to blacks that fought for civil rights, by showing how police arrested anyone who participated in the dinner sit-ins, yet did not arrest the whites who tried to hurt the sit-in members. The video showed some of the different strategies used by Black Americans. These included sit-ins, marches, and boycotting either stores or the bus systems. Most of these strategies were non-violent. The video showed that even though the acts of the Black Americans was non-violent, they became violent because of how the whites reacted. The video also showed how quickly certain situations would escalate into violence and would somehow consume the entire nation.

3) The government had a tendency to step in and try to take control of certain situations. What would have happened if the government decided to not step in at certain times?

Would the Black Americans have been better off if the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the students who participated in the sit-ins joined forces and worked together to fight for civil rights?

4)I believe that the Black Americans chose the correct strategies in order to fight for their civil rights. They chose peaceful options, and chose the correct options to make their voices heard when no one was choosing to listen. Even though their peaceful protests sometimes ended up in violence, it was not caused by them; it was caused by the White Americans that were against them, or the police in the cities. Even when they were being knocked down the Black Americans still decided to stand their ground, and stand strong. They never decided to give up and that civil rights wasn't worth it. They also showed little fear in the face of the White Americans, like how Mose Wright accused the two white men that killed his grandson in court. Even though he was threatened he still decided to fight for his grandson.