The following are brief synopses of the episodes of the second series: 

Episode 1: The Time Has Come (1964-1966)

Produced, directed, and written by James A. DeVinney and Madison Davis Lacy Jr.

This episode bridges the two series of Eyes on the Prize. It starts in the South before most of the rest of the second series moves to freedom movements in northern cities. The episode locates the origins of the term Black Power in the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama, thus connecting advocates for Black Power, and their turn away from non-violent protest, to the earlier Civil Right Movement covered in the first series. It also introduces important African American individuals and organizations who worked outside of the South in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Malcolm X. If this connection is underplayed in the episode, it is an important one as Blackside is arguing for a continuity between the pre- and post-Selma movements despite the commonly held belief that Malcolm X represented a break with leaders like Dr. King.

Episode 2: Two Societies (1965-1968) 

Produced, directed, and written by Sheila Bernard and Sam Pollard

This episode lifts its title from the Kerner Commission’s report, which researched the origins of the deadly riots in big cities like Los Angeles and Detroit during the 1960s. The commission concluded that white racism was maintaining two separate and unequal societies in America to the benefit of white communities and deprivation of African Americans. This episode provides a visualization of that claim. Its two stories act as cause and effect. First, it documents the challenges that Dr. King’s organization faced when trying to organize in Chicago against the city’s anti-Black housing laws. Second, it details the immediate precipitant and aftershocks of the 1967 Detroit Uprising. White racism and the continuing damage of segregation were as bad as in the South and the lack of progress resulted in deadly riots. Through juxtaposing the two events, the episode argues that to avoid the latter America needed to seriously address the former.

Episode 3: Power! (1966-1968) 

Produced, directed and written by Louis Massiah and Terry Rockefeller

This episode documents three different methods through which African-Americans tentatively acquired political power in post-Selma America: assuming leadership positions through the ballot box, community organizing within preexisting institutions, and building oppositional Black-run bases of power. The first is depicted when Carl Stokes won the Cleveland, Ohio mayoral race in 1967 thus becoming the first African-American to be elected mayor of a major city. The second type is detailed when Black parents gained control of the school board in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district in Brooklyn, New York. The formation of the Black Panther Party – with its goal of operating security, medical care, and food distribution for Black neighborhoods – is an example of the third approach.  The producers leave it up to the viewer to decide for herself which approach offers the best way forward for current circumstances.

Episode 4: The Promised Land (1967-1968) 

Produced, directed, and written by Paul Stekler and Jacqueline Shearer

This episode follows the final year of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life when he went through a political reawakening. Dr. King came out forcefully against the war in Vietnam and made economic justice a centerpiece of his activism. These moves proved controversial to many of his white supporters and political allies. The episode also details the nationwide reaction to Dr. King’s assassination, and the Poor People’s Campaign creation of Resurrection City, which was built after his murder. This era of Dr. King’s life remains important for present day audiences to learn about so they can better understand his antiwar and anti-capitalist agenda.

Episode 5: Ain’t Gonna Shuffle No More (1964-1972) 

Produced, directed, and written by Sam Pollard and Sheila Bernard

This episode provides three examples of the political and social impact of the new sense of unapologetic Black pride that many African Americans began expressing in the mid-1960s. The first story highlights the creative and defiant career of boxer Mohammed Ali. The second follows the emerging student movement at Howard University when the message that Black is Beautiful overlapped with student’s efforts to reshape their education. The third reports on the 1972 National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana where politicians and activists came from all of over the country to reimagine the Black polity in America.

Episode 6: A Nation of Law? (1968-1971) 

Produced and written by Terry Kay Rockefeller, Thomas Ott, and Louis Massiah

This episode features two stories where African American activists were murdered by law enforcement. The first details Fred Hampton’s leadership of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party and his assassination alongside fellow Panther Mark Clark. The second part of the episode recounts the Attica Prison Uprising that ended with the murder of over thirty imprisoned activists. The episode’s title is paraphrased from John Adams’ statement that the US is a nation of law not men. The episode questions that concept to ask who is protected by that law and who is oppressed by it.

Episode 7: The Keys to the Kingdom (1974-1980) 

Produced, directed, and written by Jacqueline Shearer and Paul Stekler

This episode documents three examples of the promises of affirmative action and the countermeasures of its critics. The Boston school desegregation crisis is investigated in-depth, detailing what happened when white parents in Boston violently protested against efforts to make schools more equitable for Black students. The next segment shows the successes and failures of Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson’s program of forcing city-funded projects to hire Black-owned businesses. Lastly, the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Regents of University of California v. Bakke is presented as an example of how legal bodies began slowing down the progress of integration.

Episode 8: Back to the Movement (1979 – mid 80’s)  

Produced, directed, and written by Madison Davis Lacy Jr. and James A. DeVinney

This episode details two contrasting events in the 1980s before concluding with an overview of the Civil Rights Movement and its effects within the United States as well as globally. One shows the continued violence African Americans face in America. The other shows the success African Americans can achieve in America. First, the unrest in Miami following the murder of Arthur McDuffie by law enforcement in 1980 is highlighted. Next, the mayoral election of Harold Washington is covered as he becomes the first African-American mayor of Chicago, Illinois.