Films with: Saltzman, Paul

Last white knight

In 1965, 21-year-old Torontonian, Paul Saltzman, drove to Mississippi, volunteering as a civil rights worker with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. He was arrested, spending ten days in jail. He was assaulted by a young Klansman. In 2007, Saltzman returned to find the KKK member who had punched him in the head, to explore if individual reconciliation was possible. He found him and a five year dialogue has ensued. Featuring interviews with Morgan Freeman and Harry Belafonte.

DVD 9802

Prom night in Mississippi

In 1997, actor Morgan Freeman, a resident of the small town of Charleston, Miss., offered to pay for the senior prom at Charleston High School under one condition: the prom must be racially integrated. His offer was ignored. In 2008 he offered again, and the offer was accepted, changing the tradition of two separate proms for blacks and whites that had endured since the high school was integrated in 1970. Shows the problems and lessons learned as the event was planned and held. With comments from Morgan Freeman, students, and others. Intended to explore attitudes of racial intolerance that still persist today. In 2008, Charleston High School had 415 students, 70% black and 30% white.

DVD 7318