The murder of Wharlest Jackson Sr., an NAACP leader who was killed in a 1967 car bombing, is explored in a documentary premiering Tuesday on PBS’ “Frontline.” The film “American Reckoning” was produced and directed by Brad Lichtenstein and Yoruba Richen.
Jackson, known for helping reestablish the NAACP in Natchez, Miss., was killed after he took a promotion at the Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company, a position that had never been held by a Black person. Throughout the film, Jackson’s family is searching for answers and looking into accusations of the involvement of the Silver Dollar Group, an offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana and Mississippi known for its violent actions.
“His son was only 8-years-old at the time," Lichtenstein said in an interview with KUAR News. “Wharlest Jackson Jr., he heard the explosion because it was only a few blocks away, he got on his bicycle to see what it was, and of course what he discovered was the worst thing a human being could ever imagine.”
The film highlights the work of journalist Stanley Nelson, who was looking into the involvement of the Silver Dollar Group and, according to Richen, asked, as a white journalist, “if I didn’t know about these cases, about these events, then I’m sure the larger white community didn’t.”
“American Reckoning” also contains previously unused footage from the 1967 documentary “Black Natchez.”
“The outtakes from that movie were available to us and we discovered that Wharlest Jackson Sr. is in that footage,” said Lichtenstein, “It’s also how we discovered the Deacons for Defense.”
The Deacons for Defense was an armed resistance group formed to protect Black people during demonstrations.
Richen says after speaking with the Jackson family, telling this story is part of an effort to give justice to the family. The documentary opens up questions about reparations, Richen says.
“What is justice for these families?” Richen asked, “because we have the FBI who tells us that these cases are hard, most of [the perpetrators] are dead.”
The film debuts Tuesday on PBS and can be seen on Arkansas PBS at 9 p.m.
