Finding Booker's Place - NBC Exclusive

Legacy of Booker Wright, waiter murdered after speaking out on ‘whites only’ restaurant in Mississippi

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In 1965, filmmaker Frank De Felitta produced an NBC News documentary about white attitudes towards race in the American South and the tensions of life in the Mississippi Delta during the Civil Rights struggle.  The film outraged some Southern viewers, in part, because of a candid and unforgettable scene featuring Booker Wright, a local African-American waiter in Greenwood, MS.  Wright, who worked at a local “whites only” restaurant, went on national television to deliver a stunning and heartfelt monologue about his true feelings about serving the white community, and about his aspirations for his children, who he hoped would grow up free from the prejudice he faced.  The repercussions for Booker Wright’s courageous candidness were extreme.  He lost his job and was beaten and ostracized by those who considered him “one of their own.”
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