This movie was released in 1983. Medgar Evers' assassin, Byron de la Beckwith, was not convicted until 1994. The details of this investigation were described in the movie Ghosts of Mississippi (1996).
The scene where Medgar Evers solicits community leaders and community members to sign the first petition, was actually filmed in an Atlanta, Georgia church located on 470 Whitehall Street: Denson Temple Peoples Free Methodist Church.