In 1965, filmmaker Frank De Felitta filmed a documentary focused on changing times in the American South, particularly the tension-fraught Mississippi Delta. The film was broadcast on NBC News in May of 1966 and outraged many Southern viewers, in part because it included an extraordinary scene featuring a local African American waiter named Booker Wright. Wright, who worked at a local "whites only" restaurant in Greenwood, Mississippi, went on record to deliver a stunning, heartfelt, inflammatory monologue about the realities of racism in the community.

The fallout for Booker Wright was extreme. He lost his job. He was beaten and ostracized by those who considered him “a traitor.” Booker’s Place, his place of business, was torched. Forty-five years after Booker’s television appearance, Frank De Felitta's son, director Raymond De Felitta, journeyed into the Mississippi Delta with Wright's granddaughter to learn more about who Wright was, the mystery surrounding his courageous life and untimely death, and the impact of the NBC News documentary.

"Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story is in equal measure a look at two families, the ongoing legacy of America's recent past and an essay on one man's moment of transformative courage."
‒Los Angeles Times

"Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story doesn't flinch from asking tough questions."
‒New York Post

"With empathetic craftsmanship, the film unspools as a brief history of hatred that may be recognizable to anyone who lived through the 20th century or has been paying attention in the 21st."
‒New York Daily News

Tribeca Film Festival, 2012
HotDocs Film Festival, 2012