One of the essential documentary series from 20th-century television,Eyes on the Prizeis an extraordinary, grassroots history of the civil  rights movement  in 1950s and '60s America. Leaving punditry and debate to  others, this  six-hour program concerns itself with the individuals who were there,  who participated on the front lines, who witnessed and survived to  tell  about the crusade's tragedies and victories. Starting with a pair of   mid-'50s heroic actions in the South that helped galvanize black and  white activism against institutional racism (actions that included Rosa  Parks's  refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in  Montgomery, Alabama),  the series winds its way through the exponential  growth of the movement to  the passage of the Voting Rights Act and  beyond. The epochal battle between states-rights advocates and federal  authorities is well-covered, as are the  many sacrifices made and  enormous risks taken by Mississippi Freedom Riders and advocates of  black voter registration.--Tom Keogh