Prom Night in Mississippi (2009)

Actors: Morgan Freeman (actor), Karen Shatzkin (miscellaneous crew), Elizabeth Klinck (miscellaneous crew), Nancy Abraham (producer), Jack Lenz (composer), Stephen Philipson (editor), Asher Lenz (composer), Paul Saltzman (producer), Paul Saltzman (writer), Paul Saltzman (director), Thomas Schlesinger (miscellaneous crew), Guinn Terry Davis (miscellaneous crew), Devyani Saltzman (miscellaneous crew), Patricia Aquino (producer), Thabi Moyo (producer),

Plot: In 1997, Academy Award winning actor, Morgan Freeman, who lives in the Charleston, Mississippi community, offered to fund the first-ever integrated Senior Prom in the history of Charleston's one high school. His offer was ignored. In 2008, Morgan offered again... the East Tallahatchie County School Board accepted. In this town of 2,300 people, its high school of 415 black and white students has, to this day, always had separate proms: one black, one white prom. Our film follows the Charleston High senior class of 2008 preparing and attending their historic, first integrated prom, in the context of strong emotions, traditions, and conflict inherent in race relations in the community, and in the deep south. Some of the white parents maintained their whites-only prom.

Keywords: african-american, african-american-slur, african-american-teenager, beauty-salon, boyfriend-girlfriend-relationship, change, disapproving-father, discrimination, family-relationships, father-daughter-relationship
Genres: Documentary,

Quotes:

Himself (student's father): Blacks have always taught black to hate whites. And the whites have always taught their kids to hate blacks. My daddy did it. My granddaddy did it. So, I'm gonna learn to do it.

Himself (Freeman, Morgan): One of the things that surprised me most was that they have separate proms and separate homecoming queens- one white, one black. How stupid can that be?

Himself (Freeman, Morgan): You're not talking to the kids. You're not trying to change them. You're trying to change the people who teach them.

Herself (Chasidy): It might be the fear your white daughter conceiving with a black man. That might be the fear. You're afraid of presenting, coming out white and you have a mixed baby.

Herself (Jessica): I can't get jobs in some places in town because the the racism is so bad here, because I have black friends. And I get judged by it every day.

Himself (Anonymous): There's people around here that will disown their kids if they try to mix things up like that. A lot of parents, not just one or two.

Himself (student's parent): [commenting on his daughter's black boyfriend] She's never been on a date with him. That's my choice. It's not hers, because I have a little control still. I'm still the parent.

Himself (Jeremy): They can't think of a reason to hate us, because you take away our color, we all the same.

Herself (Jessica): Mississippi has to get over the racism, the country-redneck-hate stank here. As far as I'm concerned, they can kiss my ass.

Herself (female student): That's the American dream, anyway. To be better than the last generation. I don't know why they're afraid of change. I don't understand.