Eyes on the Prize: Awakenings 1954-1956

The Film we screened in class on Monday called Eyes on the prize: Awakenings 1954-1956 was a very good film in my opinion. It provides more than enough evidence to support the fact that even after laws were passed and times were suppose to be changing, African Americans were still being discriminated against. I was interested in the Emmett Till story and thought it was very disturbing that people would actually do something like that to a child, regardless of what he said. I also found it interesting that the men on trial for his murder were not convicted although they admit to being with him and “dropping him off” somewhere that night. I noticed that the jury in the trial was all white, as the people in the court, except the one section that African Americans were allowed to sit in. I also didn’t previously know a lot about the little rock nine until this film, and was surprised at the size of the mobs and that no one was called into protect them at first. I think that white southerners were not happy about the idea of blacks becoming integrated into their society because it meant less power for them. Also, I think that some whites were afraid of breaking the norm when it came to segregation, for most it is all they have known and to think differently might bring about harsh comments from their peers, they were taking the path of least resistance. African Americans used various strategies such as “sit ins” in diners which got the media attention and put heat on the government officials who were neglecting to enforce the laws.