American Reckoning

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 Shot, As Goes Janesville) and Yoruba Richen (The Killing of Breonna Taylor, The 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.

Listen to the audiocast here or watch the documentary.