I just finished watching the movie on the THIS network. It's easier to watch a movie like this on TV with commercials to break up the horror of the telling.
Besides presenting the history, with dramatic performances, there were some visually striking scenes. After the students were arrested for protesting, and they were placed in cattle stockades...some girls were singing, as others stuck their heads between the rails -- showing the people being treated as animals.
The film also dealt with the reality of protest...of organizing and needing money, of people speaking out losing their jobs or contracts, of being blacklisted for fighting something wrong, and the moral dilemma of asking people to stand together for their rights at the risk of them losing it all. The film shows the progression from simple concern, to taking a small risk, to being all the way in...and yet, at each step, it offers a chance for the people to stop, and take an easier way out.
Strangely, during the commercials they advertised a movie with John Wayne making this quote, "There's right and there's wrong. You gotta do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat." Medgar Evans, and his family and supporters are still alive.