[11] It was released in theaters on September 14, 2018, later aired on television as part of the PBS series Independent Lens, and eventually won a 2020 Peabody Award.

[22] The Village Voice's Bilge Ebiri wrote "It’s not every day that you witness a new cinematic language being born, but watching RaMell Ross’s evocatively titled documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening qualifies".

"[24] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a full five stars and labelled it "visionary," while Owen Gleiberman of Variety called it a "transcendental scrapbook".

[25][26] Its racial politics were commended by Melissa Vincent of The Globe and Mail, stating "At every juncture, Ross elects for ambiguity and poses a question to the viewer to answer how black bodies are viewed, encouraging the audience to perform the labour of challenging their expectations.

"[27] At The Atlantic Samantha N. Sheppard writes "Ross shows how cinema can do more than just relay a narrative",[28] placing the film in camp with the work of the Black Independent Movement member's Charles Burnett, Haile Gerima and Julie Dash as he "upends cinematic conventions, and in doing so, he shows blackness in a way that is rarely seen on-screen"[28] Following the 91st Academy Awards nominations, Jason Parham of Wired argued Hale County This Morning, This Evening's inclusion for Best Documentary Feature signaled a "new age of documentary" in which "academy voters must now embrace their changing future.