An unsolved 1960s murder reveals an untold story of the civil rights movement and Black resistance.

American Reckoning

February 15, 2022 / 1h 23m

Season 2022: Episode 13

Photo: Credit for left background images, from top to bottom, depicting the Klu Klux Klan: William E. Stewart Collection Historic Natchez Foundation; ABCNews VideoSource. Credit for four images in center grid of artwork, from top left to bottom right, depicting Wharlest Jackson Sr., Wharlest Jackson Sr.’s family, Wharlest Jackson Sr.’s mangled truck, and James Jackson: Amistad Research Center; Denise Ford; National Archives; Amistad Research Center. Credit for right background image, depicting Natchez, Miss., demonstrations: Amistad Research Center.

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Who killed Wharlest Jackson Sr.? In investigating the unsolved 1967 murder of a local NAACP leader, American Reckoning reveals an untold story of the civil rights movement and Black resistance.

The feature-length documentary from FRONTLINE and Retro Report, with support from Chasing the Dream, draws on rarely seen footage filmed by Ed Pincus and David Neuman more than 50 years ago in Natchez, Mississippi, and made available through the Amistad Research Center. In following the Jackson family’s search for answers, American Reckoning also taps into the groundbreaking reporting of journalist Stanley Nelson, who investigated allegations of the involvement of a Ku Klux Klan offshoot, known as the Silver Dollar Group.

From acclaimed directors, producers and journalists Brad Lichtenstein (When Claude Got ShotAs Goes Janesville) and Yoruba Richen (The Killing of Breonna TaylorThe Sit In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show), American Reckoning is the latest component of FRONTLINE’s multiplatform initiative Un(re)solved, telling the stories of more than 150 victims of civil rights era killings for whom there has been no justice.

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