Tue. Feb. 15 at 10 p.m. on WKAR-HD 23.1 & STREAMING | An unsolved 1960s murder reveals an untold story of the civil rights movement and Black resistance.
In collaboration with Retro Report, Frontline takes an extraordinary look at the civil rights era—the violence and resistance—through rare footage filmed more than 50-years ago in Natchez, Mississippi and the still-unresolved killing of local NAACP leader Wharlest Jackson Sr.
This special specifically examines Black opposition to racist violence in Mississippi, spotlighting a little-known armed resistance group called the Deacons for Defense and Justice, woven alongside the Jackson family's decades-long search for justice amid the ongoing federal effort to investigate civil rights era cold cases.
The documentary feature also taps into the groundbreaking reporting of the Concordia Sentinel journalist Stanley Nelson, who investigated allegations of the involvement of a Ku Klux Klan offshoot, known as the Silver Dollar Group, in Jackson’s murder.
Drawing on archival film footage and profound interviews, American Reckoning offers a window into an untold story of a Black-led liberation and self-defense movement in Natchez, as well as the funeral of Wharlest Jackson and its aftermath.
Watch this episode at video.wkar.org during or after the premiere date.
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As U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, Frontline explores and illuminates the critical issues of our times, from business and health to social issues, politics and war.