Check out this preview of the documentary Prom Night In Mississippi – a story stemming from an offer from an Academy Award winning actor, that made a historic impact at a high school in the southern state.
In 1997, Morgan Freeman offered to pay for the senior prom at Charleston High School under one condition: the prom had to be racially integrated. After that offer was ignored, Freeman returned eleven years later and the school board accepted. Charleston High School had its first-ever integrated prom in 2008 (until then, blacks and whites had separate proms).
The documentary follows students, teachers, and parents as they lead up to the big day – which, doesn’t come without much opposition in a town where deep rooted racism is still planted. Prom Night in Mississippi premieres @ 9PM ET/PT on Monday, July 20th on HBO.
