Interviewee Information: A through J
The following is an alphabetized list of persons interviewed for the second series of Eyes On The Prize. Under each name is small biographical summary and the episodes in which they appear. Click on a name to watch their interview.
A • B • C • D • E • F • G • H • I-J
A
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Episode 5
- Retired NBA player and civil rights activist.
- Juanita Abernathy
- Episode 4
- Helped organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott and participated in the march to Selma. Wife of the civil rights leader Reverend Ralph Abernathy.
- Reverend Ralph Abernathy
- Episode 4
- Close associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. Co-creator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Married to Juanita Abernathy.
- Ann-Marie Adker
- Episode 8
- Resident of Overtown, Miami.
- Muhammad Ali
- Episode 5
- Professional boxer and civil rights activist. Changed his name upon joining the Nation of Islam.
- Tracy Amalfitano
- Episode 7
- White parent in Boston who was in favor of Boston school desegregation.
- Thomas Atkins
- Episode 7
- Part of the group that sued the Boston School Comittee for desegregation.
- Georgia Ayers
- Episode 8
- Resident of Overtown, Miami.
B
- A. Peter Bailey
- Episode 1
- Close associate of Malcolm X and member of the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
- Amiri Baraka
- Episodes 5 and 6
- Pioneer of the Black Arts Movement.
- Laverne Barkley
- Episode 6
- Parent of Eliott Barkley, a leader in the Attica Prison Rebellion who was among the thirty-three prisoners murdered by law enforcement.
- Ruth Batson
- Episode 7
- Parent in Boston who led efforts to desegregate schools. Was appointed chairwoman of the NAACP Public School comittee.
- Colonel Howard Becker
- Episode 2
- Led an an Army unit patrolling Detroit during the riots of 1967.
- Harry Belafonte
- Episodes 4 and 5
- Famous singer, actor, and civil rights activist who was a close confidant of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Mary Frances Berry
- Episode 7
- Civil rights activist and co-founder of the Free South Africa Movement. Appointed to the U.S. Civil Rights Comission by President Carter in 1980.
- Lieutenant Colonel Frederick H. Black
- Episode 5
- Student at Howard University during the student protests there in 1968.
- Unita Blackwell
- Episode 8
- Project director for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comittee. Elected the first African-American mayor in the history of Mississippi.
- Jerred Blanchard
- Episode 4
- Participant in the Memphis sanitation worker strike of 1968.
- Herbert X. Blyden
- Episode 6
- Participant and chief negotiator in the Attica Prising Rebellion.
- Willie Bolden
- Episode 7
- Participant in the Atlanta sanitation worker strike.
- Dale Bowlin
- Episode 8
- Miami resident who experienced the unrest that followed the murder of Arthur McDuffie by county police.
- Herb Boyd
- Episode 2
- Witness to the 1967 Detroit Rebellion.
- Elaine Brown
- Episodes 3 and 6
- Joined the Black Panther Party in 1968. The only women to lead the Black Panther Party (1974 to 1977).
- Dr. John O. Brown
- Episode 8
- Resident of the Overtown neighborhood Miami who ran a medical practice.
- Clory Bryant
- Episode 2
- Resident of Cicero, IL and participant the 1966 march there to end racist housing laws.
- Linda Bryant-Hall
- Episode 2
- Daugher of Clory Bryant who marched with her mother in the 1966 Cicero March.
- Charles Butts
- Episode 3
- Worked on the Carl Stokes mayoral campaign in Cleveland in 1965 and 1967.
- Jane Byrne
- Episode 8
- Chicago mayor from 1979 to 1983.
C
- Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Toure)
- Episodes 1 and 3
- Civil rights activist and leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comittee.
- Ben Chavis
- Episode 5
- Attended the 1972 National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana.
- Dr. Kenneth Clark
- Episode 5
- Groundbreaking psychologist and Howard University alum who was on the Board of Directors during the student protests at Howard in 1968.
- Fr. George Clements
- Episodes 6 and 8
- Chicago civil rights activist and the city's second Black Catholic pastor.
- Reverend Walter "Slim" Coleman
- Episode 8
- Chicago activist and writer who focused on housing and welfare issues and supported Harold Washington's mayoral campaign.
- John Conyers
- Episode 2
- U.S. State Representative for Michigan from 1965 to 2017.
D
- Emma Darnell
- Episode 7
- Comissioner of Administrative Services in Atlanta during Maynard Jackson's mayoral term.
- Angela Y. Davis
- Episode 6
- Prominent American political activist, a founding member of the Comittees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. A leader in the prision abolition movement.
- Ossie Davis
- Episode 1
- Actor and civil rights activist. Friend of Malcolm X and participated in the March on Washington.
- David Dawley
- Episode 1
- Attended the Meredith March Against Fear.
- Emory Douglas
- Episode 3
- Artist, southern California member of the Black Panther Party, assisted in Party's community policing efforts and its protest at the state capitol building in Sacremento.
- Angelo Dundee
- Episode 5
- Muhammad Ali's trainer and cornerman.
- Steven Dunkley
- Episode 5
- Performed the induction ceremony where Muhammad Ali refused the draft into the Army.
- Minnie Dunlap
- Episode 2
- Supported Martin Luther King, Jr. and participated in the Chicago Freedom Movement.
- Jane Duwors
- Episode 7
- A white parent in Boston who was opposed to school desegregation.
E
- Maria Wright Edelman
- Episode 4
- Civil rights and childrens rights activist, she worked closely with Dr. King and other political leaders. Founder of the Children's Defense Fund.
- Phyllis Ellison
- Episode 7
- A black student in Boston during the busing and desegregation crisis.
- Charles Epps
- Episode 5
- A student and eventual faculty member at Howard University, experienced the student unrest in 1968.
- Arthur Eve
- Episode 5
- Deputy Speaker of the New York State assembly during the Attica Prison uprising.
F
- Willie Felder
- Episode 5
- Attended the National Black Political Convention as a delegate from Michigan.
- Sandra Feldman
- Episode 3
- Field representative for the United Federation of Teachers during the Ocean Hill-Brownsville experiment.
- Maurice Ferre
- Episode 8
- Resident of Miami during the unrest following the murder of Arthur McDuffie.
- James Figgs
- Episode 4
- Supporter of Marting Luther King Jr. and participant in Resurrection City.
- Robert Finley
- Episode 8
- Resident of Miami and a small business owner during the unrest following the murder of Arthur McDuffie.
- Dr. Grant Friley
- Episode 2
- African-American police officer during the Detroit riots of 1967.
G
- Thompson Gaines
- Episode 3
- Worked on the 1967 Cleveland mayoral campaign of Carl Stokes.
- Jesus Garcia
- Episode 8
- Supporter of Harold Washington during the 1983 Chicago mayoral campaign.
- Ed Gardner
- Episode 8
- Supporter of Harold Washington during the 1983 Chicago mayoral campaign.
- Joseph Gardner
- Episode 8
- Resident of Chicago and supporter of Mayor Harold Washington.
- Paula Giddings
- Episode 5
- Howard University student during the 1968 campus protests.
- Tony Gittens
- Episode 5
- Howard University student during the 1968 campus protests. Also worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comitee in Alabama.
- Dorothy Graham
- Episode 8
- Resident of Miami, Florida.
- William Greaves
- Episode 5
- Filmmaker who documented the National Black Political convention in Indiana.
- Robin Gregory
- Episode 5
- First homecoming queen at Howard University with natural hair and student activist.
H
- Alex Haley
- Episode 1
- Co-author of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X".
- Michael Harrington
- Episode 4
- Advised Martin Luther King Jr. on the Poor People's campaign.
- Luke Harris
- Episode 7
- Black student at a predominently white Institution, the Yale Law School, during the development of affirmative action programs.
- Richard Hatcher
- Episode 5
- Served as the first African-American mayor of Gary, Indiana from 1968 to 1988.
- Mary Hightower (first interview), Mary Hightower (second interview)
- Episode 5
- Participant of the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana and civil rights activist in Mississippi
- Major Howard Holland
- Episode 2
- Michigan National Guard member assigned to the 1967 Detroit Rebellion.
- John Hulett
- Episode 1
- A voter registration activist who worked with both the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comittee.
- Walter Huntley
- Episode 7
- Chief of Staff to Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson.
I-J
- Jim Ingram
- Episode 2
- Journalist arrested during the 1967 Detroit Rebellion and an observer of the Attica Prison Uprising in 1971.
- Ellen Jackson
- Episode 7
- Parent in Boston who worked to desegregate schools.
- Jesse Jackson
- Episodes 2,4,5, and 8
- Civil rights and political activist who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.
- Johnny Jackson
- Episode 1
- Civil rights activist and member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comitee. Participated in the Selma to Montgomery march.
- Mary Jane Jackson
- Episode 1
- Resident in Lowndes County, Alabama.
- Maynard Jackson
- Episode 7
- The first African American mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.
- Nancy Jefferson (first interview), Nancy Jefferson (second interview)
- Episodes 2,6 and 8
- Supporter of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Chicago Freedom Movement.
- Richard Jensen
- Episode 3
- Oakland police officer from 1965 to the mid 1970s who was shot by members of the Black Panther Party.
- Albert Johnson
- Episode 8
- Resident of Chicago and supporter of the Harold Washington mayoral campagin.
- Arthur Johnson
- Episode 2
- Resident of Detroit during the 1967 Rebellion.
- Dr. Toni Johnson-Chavis
- Episode 7
- Student at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine during the Bakke Supreme Court case.
- Roxanne Jones
- Episode 4
- Welfare reform activist and supporter of the Poor People's Campaign.
- Karriema Jordan
- Episode 3
- Student during the Ocean Hill-Brownsville School District experiment.
- Eleanor Josaitis
- Episode 2
- Resident of Detroit during the 1967 Rebellion and co-founder of the Focus: HOPE organization.