Special features of these DVDs: interview with Henry Hampton ; Dolby Digital ; scene selection.

Editors, Daniel Eisenberg, Jeanne Jordan, Charles Scott.

Julian Bond, narrator.

Chronicles the American civil rights struggle.

Awakenings (1954-1956): Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. Rare reflections open the door to understanding America's struggle for equality. Curtis Jones (Emmett Till's cousin), Coretta Scott King, and other key witnesses describe the extraordinary role ordinary people played in shaping the civil rights movement. Mose Wright stands up to racial injustice. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. spark a boycott to desegregate city buses. King and other ministers form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to expand the movement for civil and human rights.

Fighting back (1957-1962): Little Rock, "Ole Miss," the 1954 Supreme Court Decision. Unforgettable images of the battle lines drawn in the South come to life through the eyes of those who were on the frontlines; Central High School senior Ernest Green, University of Mississippi registrar Robert Ellis, U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell. See states' rights loyalists and federal authorities collide in the struggle to integrate Central High School. James Meredith and NAACP lawyers face mob violence integrating the University of Mississippi.

Ain't scared of your jails (1960-1961): Sit-ins, SNCC, Freedom Rides. See young people unite to overcome segregation. Exclusive interviews with student activists, community leaders, and goverment officials reveal the remarkable human drama behind the lunch counter sit-ins, nationwide boycotts, and formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Black and white freedom riders, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), travel together at great risk to protest bus segregation and challenge the government to protect them from mobs. Strong black support aids in President Kennedy's election.

No easy walk (1961-1963): Georgia, Alabama, The March on Washington. Discover the power of mass demonstrations with the emergence of Martin Luther King, Jr., as the most visible leader of the civil rights movement. Recollections of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) members help chronicle the anti-segregation campaign in Albany, GA; the violent reaction to the Children's March in Birmingham, AL; the triumphant March on Washington, D.C.; and President Kennedy's proposal of the Civil Rights Act.

Mississippi: is this America? (1962-1963): Medgar Evers, Freedom Summer, the Civil Rights Act. Mississippi becomes a testing ground of constitutional principles as activists focus on the right to vote. Key participants recount the state's resistance to the movement and the equally strong determination of black and white organizers to bring blacks into the political process. NAACP leader Medgar Evers is assassinated and three civil rights workers are murdered. Amidst the horror, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed.

Bridge to freedom (1965): Selma, Montgomery, the Voting Rights Act. Eyewitness accounts by the Rev. C.T. Vivian, Stokley Carmichael, and George Wallace illuminate the events of 1965 focusing on a decade of lessons learned and the role of television in the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King, Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize. TV images of troopers gassing demonstrators on a Selma bridge fill living rooms. Twenty-five thousand people march from Selma to Montgomery, helping to ensure the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

TV rating: TV-PG.

DVD.

Closed captioned for the hearing impaired.