Produced over the course of 12 years by Blackside, Inc., one of the oldest minority-owned film and television production companies in the country, the series received over 23 awards, including two Emms (for Outstanding Documentary and Outstanding Achievement in Writing), the duPont Columbia Award, the Edward R. Murrow Brotherhood Award for Best National Documentary, the International Documentary Association’s Distinguished Documentary Award, Program of the Year and Outstanding News Information Program by the Television Critics Association, and the CINE Golden Eagle. 

In addition to its positive reception from television critics and professionals, Eyes on the Prize was also lauded by historians and educators. Using archival footage and contemporary interviews with participants in the struggle for and against civil rights, the series presented the movement as multifaceted. Watched by over 20 million viewers with each airing, it served as an important educational tool, reaching a generation of millions of Americans who have had no direct experience with the historic events chronicled. Though the series included such landmark events as the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott of 1955-56; the 1963 March on Washington; and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968, it also documented the workings of the movement on a grassroots level, presenting events and individuals often overlooked. 

Eyes on the Prize I, narrated by Julian Bond, as launched by the episode titled “Awakenings.” It documents two events that helped focus the nation’s attention on the oppression of African-American citizens: the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 and the Montgomery bus boycott, motivated by the arrest of Rosa Parks, who refused to relinquish her seat on a public bus to a white person. Parts 2 through 6 covered such topics as the key court case Brown v. the Board of Education, the nationwide expansion of the movement, James Meredith’s enrollment at the University of Mississippi, the Freedom Rides, and the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Despite the critical and popular success of the first six episodes, executive producer Henry Hampton had a difficult time raising the $6 million needed to fund the sequel. The reticence of both corporate and public granted organizations is attributed to the subject matter of Eyes II: the rise of the Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam, the black consciousness movement, the Vietnam War, busing, and affirmative action.