By Bonnie Withers
Black History Month always takes me back to the extraordinary documentary series, “Eyes on the Prize”—a series of 14 episodes set in two parts documenting the Civil Rights Movement from 1954-1985– and I recall our UU connection to that landmark creation.
Henry Hampton was born in St. Louis in 1940. His parents converted to Catholicism because of the church’s support of desegregation and Henry was educated by Jesuits. After Washington University, he tried medical school but dropped out after one year. Some time later, he was working as a cab driver and happened to pick up a staff member of the Unitarian Universalist Association who got him a job at Boston headquarters. After two years, Hampton became Director of Information (1963-1968). When Martin Luther King Junior sent out a call for ministers to join him in Selma in 1965, Hempton helped recruit marchers and make arrangements. He flew to Selma in the same plane as Rev. James Reeb, who would shortly be murdered there. Hampton marched along, limping from the polio he had suffered as a child, taking in all he was seeing on his first trip into the Deep South. He realized that this story needed to be told, and told in a new way that looked at all aspects of this messy, divisive, difficult history. He left the UUA in 1968 and created his film company, Blackside Productions, where he worked with a dedicated team to learn all he could about the possibilities of using the power of media to teach and to heal.
“Eyes on the Prize” was first aired in 1987 on PBS. Since then, it has received multiple awards and is still a prime educational tool. Hampton’s company went on to create several more documentaries, including “The Great Depression” and “America’s War on Poverty”. He was considered a generous mentor to young film makers and a tireless worker for social justice. Henry Hampton died of lung cancer in 1998 at age 58.
For a deep dive into the “schooling” process of the creation of “Eyes on the Prize”, visit the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice.
Watch “Eyes on the Prize“.
TA Charron
Henry Hampton, 2000
Oil on Canvas