The following collection of documents offer a small sampling of the 88 boxes of documents related to Eyes II's in the Henry Hampton Collection that concern the entire series of Eyes on the Prize. The image below illustrates the boxes necessary for a single batch of papers to be scanned - there are many more where that came from.

For more information about the Henry Hampton collection, visit the Washington University Libraries Special Collections page. Click here to see the finding aid for the Eyes II papers. 

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The following documents offer a quick insight into Blackside's production methods for Eyes II. Included in the papers on view here are production calenders and timelines,  which give a macro view of all of the steps required to make a multi-part documentary series; weekly production reports and shoot schedules which show the work going on day-by-day; and field shoot logs that show how filming the interivews occurred. But these are only the metaphorical tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of papers included in the Henry Hampton collection that pertain to Eyes II. For more information on how to see the rest of the papers, of which about ten percent has been digitized, click here.

Interviews were integral to telling the histories that Eyes II told, as this exhibition discusses. These five documents show the steps it took to interview someone like Coretta Scott King. First, Blackside conducted phone interviews to gather background information on the people and events the program intended to cover, and to figure out who would be best to interview on screen. Then, the producers determined who they wanted to interview more fully and negotiated the interviewee's availabilty. Multiple producers came up with the lists of questions to ask, especially for subjects included in more than one episode. Finally, they organized multi-day film shoots in different parts of the country to interview folks in the vincinity. 

The documents below offer an idea of what Henry Hampton thought was important for the Blackside producers and staff to know about his motivations and goals for Eyes II. 

Writing the treatments and scripts for each episode was a laborius, multi-step process whih involved the opinions of numerous producers and outside consultants. By viewing the treatments for the first episode, differences can be discerned between the first and final version. A memo from Judy Richardson details the important role of other voices beside the two team producers who were most responsible for an episode.

This group of production papers includes a memo from series writer Steve Fayer attached to an edited script of episode 4 with his list of suggestions to improve the program. Documents from episode 5 include information regarding the interview with famed boxer Muhammad Ali, including an example of a Blackside itinerary. Lastly, another example of a proposed content and shot list for episode 6 illustrate the decisions that went into its making. 

Blackside producers considered episode 8 very important. It would not only end the second series, but was the last word on Eyes on the Prize as a whole. Memos between producers and other staff members detail the debates over the various directions that the episode could go in and what would be necessary for a successful end of the series. Some producers wanted to break with the interview and archival footage format of the previous episodes while others argued that it made sense to maintain the look and tone of the rest of the series.