The series begins at a crucial turning point in American history: the Selma marches that led to the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the urban rebellion that broke out in Watts just a few days later.
The second hour dramatizes the diverging paths for African Americans that emerged in the 1970s and early ‘ 80s, as well as the outbursts of white backlash that marked these years.
The third hour reveals profound fissures within the country — and within black America — that deepened through the 1980s and ‘ 90s, just as African Americans were becoming more visible than ever.
The final hour brings the story up to the present day. As the 21st Century dawned, the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina came as a wake-up call, revealing that the black poor were still grappling with issues that the civil rights movement set out to resolve decades earlier.
