Prom night in Mississippi / HBO Documentary Films and RTM Productions ; directed & produced by Paul Saltzman ; produced by Patricia Aquino.

In 1997, actor Morgan Freeman, a resident of the small town of Charleston, Miss., offered to pay for the senior prom at Charleston High School under one condition: the prom must be racially integrated. His offer was ignored. In 2008 he offered again, and the offer was accepted, changing the tradition of two separate proms for blacks and whites that had endured since the high school was integrated in 1970. Shows the problems and lessons learned as the event was planned and held. With comments from Morgan Freeman, students, and others. Intended to explore attitudes of racial intolerance that still persist today. In 2008, Charleston High School had 415 students, 70% black and 30% white.