40 years later, Mississippi waiter's 'magical moment' renews race relations; and Film Producers and Civil Rights Reporters relive 'exposing' Mississippi life of 1964-1966

Watch the above original 1966 NBC News documentary, "Mississippi: A Self-Portrait" in its entirety.

Former NBC News producer Frank De Felitta recalls a time he and his film crew faced some real danger in 1960s Mississippi.

 Ray De Felitta and David Zellerford discuss the significance of the Tallahatchie Flats – old sharecropper's cabins given new life as tourist lodgings.

Story by DatelineWritten by Tim Beacham and Paul Ryan
Videos by NBC News 

WARNING:  Some of the language in this story could be considered shocking to some.

The Mississippi Delta is thousands of miles and a lifetime away from Southern California where Raymond De Fellita and Yvette Johnson grew up.

Ray is white and pushing 50. He was raised in the Hollywood Hills, the son of a successful filmmaker and novelist. Yvette, is black and more than 10 years younger than Ray. She grew up in a gated community in San Diego, the daughter of former NFL football star.

Until the spring of 2011, the two of them had never met. But in a strange twist of fate, both discovered that they shared a unique bond, rooted in an NBC News documentary that aired only once, on a Sunday evening in May 1966.
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