(MOS) MSs African-Americans and Caucasian-Americans demonstrating outside Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina, marching in circle on sidewalk while police officers stand watch, 1960-- bandied placards read: "Woolworth Segregates"; "End Lunch Counter Discrimination"; "Support Carolina Students"; MSs black protesters (participants of Woolworth's sit-in) under arrest, being led through crowded police HQ hallway. TLS/MSs damaged facade of brick residential home (possibly retaliatory attack by pro-segregationists). MS/CUs blacks & whites sitting at lunch counter in peaceful protest. MSs white pro-segregationists forcing the protesters from the lunch counter, pulling & tearing at them, some throwing punches (violence). MS white & black students marching toward camera. L/a MS Kress Department Store sign & marquee in Greensboro, NC. MS two women exiting McLellan's store. TLSs sit-in (sit-down) protests at segregated lunch counter restaurants. MSs protesters, demonstrators, signs ("All are free or none are.") TLS Freedom Trail Park Street Church sign, tilt down to LS F.W. Woolworth's store.
Civil Rights Sit-In Protest, 1960s (Unclean footage w/ text at bottom crediting VO by Civil Rights Workers): Various shots of police removing protestors by methods of carrying & dragging.
Civil Rights Sit-In Protest, 1960s: GV pan of caged police truck as it drives past camera, arrested protestors in the back wave to people on the street as they pass.
Civil Rights (b/w): LS people lining Capitol St. as protest march moves toward them. Aerial pan massive group of protesters marching down center of Capitol St.
Film of an integrated [mid-60's] bus ride reminiscent of the FREEDOM RIDES of civil rights movement. The leader uses the intercom to give instructions about keeping order if trouble starts to uphold the purpose of the march as peaceful and nonviolent. Hats are passed out, reading "Freedom Now". Girls on bus fixing their hair & applying makeup. Shots of White College kids and black protesters of varying ages. Supporters on the streets of Washington wave to people on the bus. Participants chant.
JOAN BAEZ sings a "We Shall Overcome" (the verses about "We are not afraid" and "We shall overcome") on stage at a podium. Pan across the crowd.
Panoramic views of crowd assembled near reflecting pool and Lincoln Memorial. A loudspeaker calls for attention. Shots of black and white marchers using the same row of outdoor drinking fountains. Voice on loudspeaker praises the orderliness of the march.
High angle LS/TLS/MSs large crowd of predominantly young African-American men and women gathering in public square, listening to off-screen speaker; hi ang MS young black woman wearing funky white-rimmed sunglasses, dark scarf, white dress, standing in crowd, singing & clapping hands; MS two young black men-- one wearing dark sunglasses, the other a porkpie hat -- standing, listening; MS young black woman smiling, young black man leaning close. Panning LS crowd gathered outside Catholic private school; MSs posted segregation protest signs-- "We Want To Keep Our School White," "Our School Has Always Been Segregated"; MS white men & women marching in picket line with protest signs; MS lengthy racist message on placard; rear view TLS white nun (habit) ushering white & black children into school. LS/TLSs Donald A. Quarles elementary school in Englewood, New Jersey; TLS black & white kids walking along sidewalk near school. LS elementary school; TLS African-American children (winter clothes) exiting school with white female teacher.
LS/TLSs stream of African-American men, women and children dressed in Sunday best exiting school-like building, walking along sidewalk, passing gorgeous cars such as mid-1950s DeSoto Fireflite and mid-1950s Buick Century in Birmingham, Alabama. Panning LS/TLSs black men and women walking along sidewalk en masse, being stopped by white male Birmingham police officers. MSs Reverend FRED SHUTTLESWORTH wearing dapper suit and tie stepping to fore of stopped crowd, quieting the protesters, then trying to talk with police captain who refuses to get out of squad car. Making no headway with the cops, TLS/MSs Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth speaking to the crowd, inciting them to march on, but first leading them in prayer. Panning TLS crowd arising from genuflect. TLS hysterical black woman being led away by two black men in suits. MS people attending to another hysterical black woman in crowd. TLS Birmingham firemen readying fire hose, crowd simply marching around them and the police. TLS white male police officer with German Shepherd police dog on leash. WLS crowd. Great panning MSs black men and woman singing, cheering in crowd. TLS/LSs marchers descending hill, conducting march.
TLS window w/ "State of Illinois, Department of Labor, Division of Unemployment Compensation" lettering; TLSs predominantly African-American men & women standing in unemployment lines; MSs black male & female clerks processing cases. LS four white male police officers standing guard at gate of construction site project; TLS white & black men & women picketing w/ signs near construction site. TLS burned-out rubble, car in residential neighborhood-- bombing aftermath? TLS ratty, slummy rear steps, patio porches familiar to Chicago tenements. Brief traveling shot black girl standing near street of slum. TLS late 1940s model Pontiac four-door car pulling to curb in suburban neighborhood; TLSs black man exiting car, walking with white man wearing business suit toward ranch house, entering.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ, Lyndon Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson) says that they will need more pens. MS Johnson signing, others helping set up around him, he blows his nose. LBJ at desk signing. MS passing out pens. CU writing w/pens. LBJ at desk signing, crowd around. MS passing out pens. CU writing w/pens. MCU Vice President HUBERT HORATIO HUMPHREY (Hubert Humphrey, Hubert H. Humphrey) in crowd. MCU ROBERT FRANCIS. KENNEDY (RFK, Bobby Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Bobby F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy) talking. MCU LADY BIRD JOHNSON, (Claudia Johnson). MS Johnson passing out pens.
CU Speaker of the House JOHN MCCORMACK. MS/MCU U.S. President LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON (LBJ, Lyndon Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson) signing, passing out pens. MS Johnson posing for photographs. MS HUBERT HUMPHREY (Hubert H. Humphrey, Hubert Humphrey) w/extra, unopened pens. MCU Johnson speaking w/Humphrey, Johnson towels off sweat from his head. MS LBJ speaking w/HUBERT HUMPHREY (Hubert H. Humphrey, Hubert Humphrey) w/LADY BIRD JOHNSON (Claudia Johnson).
CU Presidential seal, Eagle w/arrows & olive branch, "The President of the United States Seal." MCU U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ, Lyndon Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson) speaking from behind a desk, glasses on. Johnson begins, "My fellow Americans: I am about to sign into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I want to take this occasion to talk to you about what that law means to every American. One hundred and eighty-eight years ago this week a small band of valiant men began a long struggle for freedom. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor not only to found a nation, but to forge an ideal of freedom - not only for political independence, but for personal liberty - not only to eliminate foreign rule, but to establish the rule of justice in the affairs of men. That struggle was a turning point in our history. Today in far corners of distant continents, the ideals of those American patriots still shape the struggles of men who hunger for freedom. This is a proud triumph. Yet those who founded our country knew that freedom would be secure only if each generation fought to renew and enlarge its meaning. From the minutemen at Concord to the soldiers in Vietnam, each generation has been equal to that trust. Americans of every race and color have died in battle to protect our freedom. Americans of every race and color have worked to build a nation of widening opportunities. Now our generation of Americans has been called on to continue the unending search for justice within our own borders. We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment. We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights. Yet many Americans do not enjoy those rights. We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings - not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin. The reasons are deeply imbedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can understand - without rancor or hatred - how this all happened. But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight forbids it. That law is the product of months of the most careful debate and discussion. It was proposed more than one year ago by our late and beloved President John F. Kennedy. It received the bipartisan support of more than two-thirds of the Members of both the House and the Senate. An overwhelming majority of Republicans as well as Democrats voted for it. It has received the thoughtful support of tens of thousands of civic and religious leaders in all parts of this Nation. And it is supported by the great majority of the American people."
President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ, Lyndon Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson) "The purpose of the law is simple. It does not restrict the freedom of any American, so long as he respects the rights of others. It does not give special treatment to any citizen. It does say the only limit to a man's hope for happiness, and for the future of his children, shall be his own ability. It does say that there are those who are equal before God shall now also be equal in the polling booths, in the classrooms, in the factories, and in hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, and other places that provide service to the public. I am taking steps to implement the law under my constitutional obligation to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. First, I will send to the Senate my nomination of LeRoy Collins to be Director of the Community Relations Service. (MS audience applauding.) Governor Collins will bring the experience of a long career of distinguished public service to the task of helping communities solve problems of human relations through reason and commonsense. Second, I shall appoint an advisory committee of distinguished Americans to assist Governor Collins in his assignment. Third, I am sending Congress a request for supplemental appropriations to pay for necessary costs of implementing the law, and asking for immediate action. (MS audience applauding, ROBERT FRANCIS. KENNEDY, RFK, Bobby Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Bobby F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy)& HUBERT HORATIO HUMPHREY Hubert Humphrey, Hubert H. Humphrey seated.) Fourth, already today in a meeting of my Cabinet this afternoon I directed the agencies of this Government to fully discharge the new responsibilities imposed upon them by the law and to do it without delay, and to keep me personally informed of their progress. Fifth, I am asking appropriate officials to meet with representative groups to promote greater understanding of the law and to achieve a spirit of compliance. We must not approach the observance and enforcement of this law in a vengeful spirit. Its purpose is not to punish. Its purpose is not to divide, but to end divisions - divisions which have all lasted too long. Its purpose is national, not regional. Its purpose is to promote a more abiding commitment to freedom, a more constant pursuit of justice, and a deeper respect for human dignity. We will achieve these goals because most Americans are law-abiding citizens who want to do what is right. This is why the Civil Rights Act relies first on voluntary compliance, then on the efforts of local communities and States to secure the rights of citizens. It provides for the national authority to step in only when others cannot or will not do the job. This Civil Rights Act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and our States, in our homes and in our hearts, to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved country. So tonight I urge every public official, every religious leader, every business and professional man, every workingman, every housewife - I urge every American to join in this effort to bring justice and hope to all our people and to bring peace to our land. My fellow citizens, we have come now to a time of testing. We must not fail. Let us close the springs of racial poison. Let us pray for wise and understanding hearts. Let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our Nation whole. Let us hasten that day when our unmeasured strength and our unbounded spirit will be free to do the great works ordained for this Nation by the just and wise God who is the Father of us all. Thank you and good night."
MS crowd milling about. U.S. President LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON (LBJ, Lyndon Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson) at desk, signing, passing out pens. CU Johnson passing out pens. (Tells someone he wants to meet w/him and others afterward, making sure people get their pens) MS/HA Johnson signing, ROBERT FRANCIS. KENNEDY (RFK, Bobby Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Bobby F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy) in BG. MCU ROBERT FRANCIS. KENNEDY (RFK, Bobby Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Bobby F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy) waiting. CU Johnson writing. MCU Johnson gives Bobby Kennedy several pens & he walks away. (tells them who to give them to) MS Johnson signing as some stand over him, joking, smiling. LBJ signing w/his pens. MS signing. (making small talk w/those around him, his daughter's birthday July, 2, anniversary of his heart attack) CU man w/black rimmed glasses watching. MS/MCU passing out pens. CU of document on desk.
BW images over RFK voiceover. Images of urban African American poverty. RFK campaigning in African American neighborhood. African-Americans surround his car as he shakes hands. "That fact is that some of our fellow citizens have turned against our society and turned against our government. People perhaps that you do not see, people perhaps that you do not come in contact with. Only 40 percent of the men who live in the ghetto have jobs that pay more than $60 a week. How can you support a family, how can you bring up children in dignity? If they feel that their children can t get a decent education, do they want to accept that."
MS Martin Luther King, Jr. sitting on bus, white man seated beside him, black man seated behind him.
High angle LS crowd gathered during March on Washington, 1963; tilt down TLS crowd gathered at foot of Washington Monument; MS blacks & whites marching, clapping, singing.
Panning MS MLK (wearing sunglasses) marching w/ several African-American men including SNCC chairman STOKELY CARMICHAEL (this is more than likely footage of var civil rights leaders continuing James Meredith's March Against Fear, 1966, after he had been gunned down by an attempted assassin); MS white police officer holding shotgun; shaky CU MLK Jr. walking, talking to off-screen reporter.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Newspaper Exterior Richmond Times-Dispatch Newspaper building. CU lettering on facade of building reading "The Times-Dispatch". Interior MS two reporters working on a story, one sits at desk typing on typewriter. MCU man reading message he just typed, context relates to employment equality for African Americans & the abolition of segregation.
St. Augustine hotel owner pouring acid into a swimming pool while African-Americans swim in it. MCU Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking to a reporter about keeping the civil rights issue a national one. Racism, segregation, hatred, intolerance, race relations, racial.
MS Rev Dr MARTIN LUTHER KING JR speaking in Memphis, TN, April 3, 1968 (night before his assassination): "I just want to do God's will. And he s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land." TLS/MSs Memphis police officers conducting investigation along balcony of Lorraine Motel in Memphis on the night of MLK's assassination. Nationwide riots following death of MLK: shaky (but good) panning TLS police squad car driving along city street, night; panning shot crowd passing broken shop windows, night; LS large fire burning from city bldg, night; LS/TLSs horse of police officers wearing gas masks, firing tear gas while patrolling streets, day (VO states this is Washington, DC but this cannot be verified). TLS Sen. ROBERT F. KENNEDY (D-NY) speaking to crowd in Indianapolis, Indiana, following MLK assassination, Aug 4 1968: "For those of you who are black & are tempted to be filled w/ hatred & distrust..." MSs widow CORETTA SCOTT KING and bereaved King family viewing open casket of Martin Luther King Jr during wake. H/a LS funeral procession of MLK through streets of Atlanta, GA, Apr 9, 1968; h/a TLS Robert Kennedy (RFK, Bobby Kennedy) marching in funeral parade, wife ETHEL KENNEDY (Ethel Skakel Kennedy) walking behind him; MS DWIGHT EISENHOWER (Ike, Dwight D. Eisenhower) and RICHARD NIXON (Tricky Dick, Richard M. Nixon) marching in funerary parade, basketball star WILT CHAMBERLAIN (it appears that Lola Falana walks to his right) marching behind them. H/a TLS mule-drawn funeral cortege.
Protests following violence perpetrated by police against marchers in Selma, Alabama, 1965: TLS civil rights demonstrators marching with banner: "We March With Selma!" TLS/MSs Caucasian-American and African-Americans marching with civil rights placards: "CORE Demands Federal Registration"; "We Shall Overcome"; "End Terror in Selma"; etc. TLS/MSs Rev. Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. standing on steps, flanked by crowd, speaking.
LS/TLSs commercial buildings blazing, spewing fire & smoke into night following racial riots in Watts, Los Angeles, California, 1965. MS two white LAPD police officers leading two black men suspected of looting toward camera, night, buildings burning in BG. Traveling shots of buildings destroyed by fire, arson, looting; National Guard patrol streets during daytime. TLS National Guardsmen standing guard behind crude barricade in street.
(MOS) MS black women & men singing, clapping during sit-down demonstration. MS window sign: "White Waiting Room, Interstate Passengers" (Jim Crow, segregation). Est shot brick church; TLS black congregation sitting in pews, fanning themselves; MS several young black men stepping from pulpit; MS black congregation standing, cheering. TLSs residential home burning after firebomb attack, night; MSs National Guard armed with rifles affixed w/ bayonets deploying from lorry, passing cam, night. TLSs black congregation during service, many fanning themselves. TLS/MSs National Guard taking positions on sidewalk, affixing bayonet to rifle, standing guard outside building. TLSs charter bus pulling from station, driving away (Freedom Rides). Rear view MS bus driver & military guards at front of bus. MS white man & black man (James Farmer?) sitting on bus, smoking cigarettes. Panning MS bus passing cam on rain-slicked road. MS "Welcome to Mississippi" road sign. TLS/MSs military & law enforcement troops staging area. Panning TLSs charter bus driving along city street. TLS crowd gathered outside Trailways station. MS Nat'l Guard alighting bus. Zooming MS row of jail cells (county cell block).
Civil Rights Sit-In Protest, 1960s (Unclean footage w/ text at bottom crediting VO speech by former MS Governor Ross Barnet): GVs rows of police patrolling street. MS protestors taking a seat in the middle of the street. GV caged police truck pulling up, pan to seated protestors.
Civil Rights Sit-In Protest, 1960s: MS police removing / arresting protestors by methods of carrying or dragging. GV detained protestors being put in back of caged truck.
Civil rights demonstrators in Texas protest the death of Reverend James Reeb, a white clergyman from Boston who was killed by white thugs in Selma, Alabama. TLS group comprised mostly of African-American men marching down street, the head men carrying American flags, other carrying signs saying "Freedom Now" & "America-- Half Slave, Half Free" & "Shame on Alabama" & "UAW Mourns for Rev. Reeb." TLS group of mostly Caucasian onlookers on street corner. MSs legs & feet of marchers-- slacks, patent leather shoes, predominantly, though women also march. (SOUND) Great TLS marchers with signs-- "Shame on Alabama", "Freedom Now", "Stop Police Brutality"-- audio of civil rights marchers singing "Freedom." Cuts away to cameraman (probably Roy Cooper) running down street to film police officers shoving off white male counter-protestors carrying offensive hate signs: "The Stench Shall Overcome", "Africa 8,765 miles", "In a Time of Crisis, Silence is Not Golden, It's Yellow"; one of the racists is in blackface. MS civil rights marchers, young black man w/sign reading "B-Day in Alabama-- Brutality Blood Billy Clubs Broken Bones"; other signs say "You Must Be Free", "Freedom Now", "No Vote, No Freedom", "Blood, George Wallace, Blood" & "Shame on Alabama." Quick TLS white counter-protestors with signs under marquee of shoe store, reporters chasing them away with bevy of questions; CU paper plate with Nazi swastika on it; CU man holding a printed piece of paper: "Boat Ticket To Africa." H/a LS protestors congregated in park; MS African-American & Caucasian protestors singing, one man holding a NAACP banner; MS 3 signs held high: "I Have A Dream! Make This A Reality & Vote!"; MS demonstrators singing, listening, applauding. Sideview CU unidentified black man speaking to protestors about voter registration & the right to vote, American flag flying beside him; MS clergyman speaking, saying they will take every legal action to secure constitutional rights of all citizens. TLSs crowd gathered at steps of building, listening to speakers. MS another African-American minister speaking, memorializing Rev. Reeb; note the Fallout Shelter sign on pillar, screen right.
Civil Rights (b/w) : GV young African American man seated at library table studying, Caucasian police officers stand above him staring down as the student ignores the police presence & continues reading. MS young African American men seated at diner counter, Caucasian police officers stand behind them, verbally removing them from the "white only" establishment. GV intersection of Capitol Street in Jackson, bus drives by camera. MS small group of young African American men & women being removed from building entrance by police. GV pan police car driving down Capitol Street. GV pedestrians walking past shops. MS police officer surrounded by young Caucasian men as he holds place card read "Don't Buy Capitol Street".
Buses arriving, lots of cars. Marchers arrive at the Mall. Shot of folk-blues singer ODETTA playing a folksong that sounds like a Leadbelly tune. Shots of the integrated crowd at the march, black teenagers perched on a chain-link fence to watch, marchers with picket signs.
A leader calls for marchers to assemble in their groups to march, reinforces the idea of order and nonviolence. Clear shots of signs demanding civil rights and voting rights. Shots of marchers passing the reflecting pool with Lincoln Memorial, singing "We Shall Not Be Moved" en masse.
Shots of leaders and marchers of the March on Washington. Chants for Freedom. Amrchers with a banner for "Brooklyn College NAACP". Lots of shots of intergrated groups of people.
Man pushes back photographers so that marchers can move forward. MS of older African American gentlemen in suits. Overhead shots of huge crowd with placards, "We march for first class citizenship NOW!" Young boy on a man's shoulders, claps. Lots of shots of intergrated groups of people. Two caucasian college girls hug each other. Overhead shots of intergrated marchers on the road. Shots of SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE signs held by marchers.
Establishing LS state government building exterior, replete with Roman columns and belltower; MS African-American men and women walking along sidewalk, passing camera; MSs black women walking up steps, entering building. TLS Trailways bus depot exterior, U.S. National Guard soldiers standing outside; MS black man and woman waiting in line to board bus-- Freedom Riders! Panning TLSs bus pulling from station, passing police officers and Nat'l Guard, destination board reading "Dallas." MS Dr. Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. (Martin Luther King, Jr., MLK), U.S. Attorney General ROBERT F. KENNEDY (Robert Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, RFK, Robert Francis Kennedy), NAACP President ROY WILKINS and others posing outside White House; panning MS Robert F. Kennedy, Roy Wilkins, LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON (Lyndon Johnson, LBJ), AFL-CIO President WALTER REUTHER, and A. PHILIP RANDOLPH posing.
MSs U.S. President JOHN F. KENNEDY sitting at desk, making notes while preparing to speak to nation. President Kennedy delivers national televised address. "Good evening, my fellow citizens: This afternoon, following a series of threats and defiant statements, the presence of Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of Alabama to carry out the final and unequivocal order of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Alabama. That order called for the admission of two clearly qualified young Alabama residents who happened to have been born Negro. That they were admitted peacefully on the campus is due in good measure to the conduct of the students of the University of Alabama, who met their responsibilities in a constructive way. I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. Today we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. And when Americans are sent to Viet-Nam or West Berlin, we do not ask for whites only. It ought to be possible, therefore, for American students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops. It ought to be possible for American consumers of any color to receive equal service in places of public accommodation, such as hotels and restaurants and theaters and retail stores, without being forced to resort to demonstrations in the street, and it ought to be possible for American citizens of any color to register and to vote in a free election without interference or fear of reprisal. It ought to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color. In short, every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated. But this is not the case. The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the Nation in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing a high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day, one-third as much chance of completing college, one-third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much chance of becoming unemployed, about one-seventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year, a life expectancy which is 7 years shorter, and the prospects of earning only half as much. This is not a sectional issue. Difficulties over segregation and discrimination exist in every city, in every State of the Union, producing in many cities a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety. Nor is this a partisan issue. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. This is not even a legal or legislative issue alone. It is better to settle these matters in the courts than on the streets, and new laws are needed at every level, but law alone cannot make men see right. We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution."
JFK: "Therefore, I am asking for your help in making it easier for us to move ahead and to provide the kind of equality of treatment which we would want ourselves; to give a chance for every child to be educated to the limit of his talents. As I have said before, not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or an equal motivation, but they should have the equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves. We have a right to expect that the Negro community will be responsible, will uphold the law, but they have a right to expect that the law will be fair, that the Constitution will be color blind, as Justice Harlan said at the turn of the century. This is what we are talking about and this is a matter which concerns this country and what it stands for, and in meeting it I ask the support of all our citizens. Thank you very much. President Kennedy stands from desk, walks out of Oval Office."
JFK: "The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay? One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free. We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is a land of the free except for the Negroes; that we have no second class citizens except Negroes; that we have no class or cast system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to Negroes? Now the time has come for this Nation to fulfill its promise. The events in Birmingham and elsewhere have so increased the cries for equality that no city or State or legislative body can prudently choose to ignore them." (section missing)
JFK: "Next week I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law. The Federal judiciary has upheld that proposition in a series of forthright cases. The executive branch has adopted that proposition in the conduct of its affairs, including the employment of Federal personnel, the use of Federal facilities, and the sale of federally financed housing. But there are other necessary measures which only the Congress can provide, and they must be provided at this session. The old code of equity law under which we live commands for every wrong a remedy, but in too many communities, in too many parts of the country, wrongs are inflicted on Negro citizens and there are no remedies at law. Unless the Congress acts, their only remedy is in the street. I am, therefore, asking the Congress to enact legislation giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public - hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments. This seems to me to be an elementary right. Its denial is an arbitrary indignity that no American in 1963 should have to endure, but many do. I have recently met with scores of business leaders urging them to take voluntary action to end this discrimination and I have been encouraged by their response, and in the last 2 weeks over 75 cities have seen progress made in desegregating these kinds of facilities. But many are unwilling to act alone, and for this reason, nationwide legislation is needed if we are to move this problem from the streets to the courts. I am also asking Congress to authorize the Federal Government to participate more fully in lawsuits designed to end segregation in public education. We have succeeded in persuading many districts to desegregate voluntarily. Dozens have admitted Negroes without violence. Today a Negro is attending a State supported institution in every one of our 50 States, but the pace is very slow. Too many Negro children entering segregated grade schools at the time of the Supreme Court's decision 9 years ago will enter segregated high schools this fall, having suffered a loss which can never be restored. The lack of an adequate education denies the Negro a chance to get a decent job. The orderly implementation of the Supreme Court decision, therefore, cannot be left solely to those who may not have the economic resources to carry the legal action or who may be subject to harassment."
JFK: "Other features will be also requested, including greater protection for the right to vote. But legislation, I repeat, cannot solve this problem alone. It must be solved in the homes of every American in every community across our country. In this respect, I want to pay tribute to those citizens North and South who have been working in their communities to make life better for all. They are acting not out of a sense of legal duty but out of a sense of human decency. Like our soldiers and sailors in all parts of the world they are meeting freedom's challenge on the firing line, and I salute them for their honor and their courage. My fellow Americans, this is a problem which faces us all, in every city of the North as well as the South. Today there are Negroes unemployed, two or three times as many compared to whites, inadequate education, moving into the large cities, unable to find work, young people particularly out of work without hope, denied equal rights, denied the opportunity to eat at a restaurant or lunch counter or go to a movie theater, denied the right to a decent education, denied almost today the right to attend a State university even though qualified. It seems to me that these are matters which concern us all, not merely Presidents or Congressmen or Governors, but every citizen of the United States." (section missing)
MSs young African-American man (note the chain wallet) using card catalog inside public library, Birmingham, Alabama; MS sign atop card catalogue: Reference books must not be taken from his (sic) room. MSs young black woman wearing white dress while looking upon book shelves. MS young black man wearing cardigan sweater, dark-colored polo shirt while sitting at table, reading inside library. TLS young black men seated at study carrels and reading, middle-aged white man in business suit seated and reading in FG; MSs young black man wearing thick dark-rim glasses, seated at study carrel and reading. MS clean-cut young white man sporting glasses, seated at table and working. LS young white and black students working at tables inside library. TLS lone white male uniformed Birmingham police officer and possible detective entering library, followed by three white men in civvies and gang of young white males. MS police sergeant walking through library, looking for the civil rights protest students, passing array of card catalogs. Civil disobedience. Panning TLS young black men and women exiting library, passing smattering of white male cameramen and reporters. Note the fallout shelter sign outside the library. TLS young African-American male & female students walking along sidewalk outside library, headed toward camera with schoolbooks. Rear view MS black students walking along sidewalk. MS two white male uniformed cops standing on sidewalk. MSs stone inscription outside Birmingham Library; note the fallout shelter sign again. Establishing LS Birmingham Library. MS three young white men, one wearing khaki U.S. Army uniform, seated at table inside library, clowning around. MS surly young white man giving the camera the middle finger, aka flipping the bird (obscene gesture, fuck you). Panning MS young black man exiting library, passing cam.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ, Lyndon Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson) at desk, crowd applauding, including, ROBERT FRANCIS. KENNEDY (RFK, Bobby Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Bobby F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy) & HUBERT HORATIO HUMPHREY (Hubert Humphrey, Hubert H. Humphrey). MCU Johnson still seated, opens document to sign, many pens in front of him, begins to sign. CU signing, switching, dipping pens. MCU Humphrey standing, watching. MCU Johnson still signing. MS passing out pens. MCU signing. CU signing. MCU passing out pens, itching nose. LBJ at desk, signing, passing out pens, people around milling about. MCU Johnson coughing. MS Johnson handing pens to MARTIN LUTHER KING JR (MLK, Martin Luther King, Dr. Martin Luther King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. King). MCU Johnson signing.
BW scenes of civil rights marches, including the one on Selma. Washington DC, smoke from the rioting that occurred after King's death. Riot damaged streets. "Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black, considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible, you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge." Color footage of police arresting young African American men. Color footage of burning buildings during riots. BW Martin Luther King delivering the "I Have a Dream" Speech in Washington (no audio). Caucasian police officers assaulting black men with pepper spray and billy clubs. " We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization, black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love." RFK Delivering speech. "For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed," People crying after learning of the assassination of JFK. RFK delivering speech. "but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times. My favorite poet was Aeschylus."
Voiceover over the following images. Color footage of police officers and spectators in Memphis right after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. "I am only going to talk to you for a minute or so this evening because I have some very sad news for all of you." BW footage of MLK marching in civil rights demonstration. " Could you lower those signs please? I have some very sad news for all of you and sad news I think for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight."
Requires the express written consent of the King Estate in Atlanta. April 3, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee. Excerpt from "I've Been to the Mountaintop" CU Rev. Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. speaking: "Brother, you may not be on strike, but either we go up together or we go down together."
MS Martin Luther King, Jr. being presented the Nobel Peace Prize.
CU MLK speaking to congregation: "Once more we must reaffirm the fact that violence & hatred are the attributes of a sick society & they must be cast into an unending limbo if we are going to rise to a great moral maturity & our health as a nation. So I stand before you today more convinced than ever that nonviolence is the answer, that violence is wrong whether it's violence of negroes against white people or violence of white people against negroes or violence of negroes against other negroes, all violence is wrong. It is immoral & it is impractical." Ahisma, Gandhian principles of non-violence.
Nice sideview CU Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking to crowd, waiting for applause to subside. MS MLK smiling, walking from crowded podium at speaking engagement. MS/CUs Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at event held in church. "How long will prejudice blind the visions of men & drive bright eyed wisdom from her throne? When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma & other streets of Alabama, be lifted from the dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men? How long will justice be crucified & truth buried?" Edit. "We must keep moving with the faith that unmerited suffering is redemptive. We must keep moving w/ the faith that dogged yesterdays can be transformed into bright tomorrows. We must keep moving with the faith there can be a day right here in the Black Belt of Alabama, that all of God's children will be able to walk with dignity and self-respect." Edit. "Life for me ain't been no crystal staff. Life for none of us has been a crystal staff but we must keep moving. If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving." CU/MS Martin Luther King Jr., RALPH ABERNATHY, & group of both white & black religious leaders holding hands, swaying, singing "We Shall Overcome" (verse about "We are not afraid") in church.
Race Relations in the South Exterior establishing view of large southern plantation w/columns surrounding the entire building. MS African American man driving horse drawn carriage past entrance of large plantation estate. High angle LS looking down at city street lined w/urban buildings. MS men & women (Caucasian & African American) waiting to board street car. MS view inside crowded street car, Caucasian men (many in military uniform) & women are seen seated at front of car as African American men make their way to the back. MCU back of the street car were African American boys & men are seated behind Caucasian women.
Southern Regional Council Elevated LS residential street just outside downtown city limits of Atlanta. TLS urban street in Atlanta busy w/pedestrian & vehicular traffic. MS building exterior w/ barber pole. CU interior office door reading "Southern Regional Council Inc." MSs Caucasian & African American men & women seated around table discussing race relation issues. CU document reading "Needed...A Southern Charter For Race Relations". MCU African American man & Caucasian men looking at looking at line graph labeled "The Lynch Line Drops". CU pictograph related to "Black & White" population rates in southern states.
Jim Crow Sign at Train Station Low angle MS facade "Union Station of Richmond" Virginia, showing columns & clock. CU "Colored Entrance" sign hanging from steel beam. TLS platform at train station w/ "Colored Entrance" sign hanging, silhouetted man walks toward camera. Establishing shot of main entrance of Richmond station w/cars in front.
Jim Crow Signs at Bus Station Exterior view of bus station w/bus parked in front, Caucasian driver in uniform walks into main entrance, Jim Crow signs posted point to "Colored Waiting Room". MS "Colored Waiting Room" sign hanging outside station.
Some damage to the tape. The University of Alabama campus is under tight security guard as Governor George Wallace confronts a deputy US Attorney. The Federal officers are armed with a proclamation urging the Governor to end his efforts to prevent two Negro students from registering. He stands firm and President Kennedy federalizes the National Guard. When they move in, the Governor bows to Presidential authority and James Hood and Vivian Malone (Vivian Malone Jones) become the first two Negroes to be registered at the University. That night the President appealed to the Nation, saying the United States is facing a 'moral crisis' and that it is the duty of all to uphold the law. Tuscaloosa, Alabama Outside shot of the University of Alabama. MS - Governor George Wallace standing out side the doors of the building. CUS - Police holding billy clubs. MS - Brigadier General Henry Graham goes up to Governor Wallace and asks him to step aside from orders of President Kennedy. MS - James Hood walks into the college escorted by a few government men become the first negro student entering the University of Alabama, MS - Following James Hood into University of Alabama is Vivian Malone second negro student to enter the college and register. Washington DC - Excerpts from Report to the American People on Civil Rights. June 11th, 1963. CUS - President Kennedy making an appeal to the nation. "Fires of frustration and discord are burning in every city, North and South. Where legal remedies are not at hand, regress is sought in the streets, in demonstrations, parades and protest which create tensions and threaten violence and threaten lives. We face therefore a moral crisis as a country and a people. We have the right to expect that the Negro community will be responsible to uphold the law. But they have the right to expect that the law will be fair. That the Constitution will be color blind as Justice Harlan said at the turn of the century. This is what we are talking about and this is a matter which concerns this country and what it stands for, and in meeting it I ask the support of all our citizens. Thank you very much."
Jim Crow Sign on Restaurant Window Exterior view of "Booker-T" lunch-counter style restaurant as a young Caucasian police officer walks past camera. MS restaurant window reading "For Colored Only", Caucasian male employee seen inside as young African American man walks by outside looking at camera. MCU young African American woman seen inside restaurant looking out window as if daydreaming, lettering on window in front of her reads "For Colored Only". MS window of the "Booker-T Luncheon" restaurant advertising "For Colored Only".
Excellent MOS COLOR shots of smoldering, destroyed buildings after riots in Chicago after MLK assassination, 1968. MS signs at intersection of Roosevelt & Spaulding. MS National Guard on patrol; TLS Nat l Guard in army transports. MS Chicago police officers kicking black men off the street, away from locked & gated stores. TLS contingent of young black men walking in street under el tracks. "When we open our eyes today and look around America, we see America not through the eyes of someone who has enjoyed the fruits of Americanism. We see America through the eyes of someone who has been the victim of Americanism. We don t see any American dream; we ve experienced only the American nightmare. We haven t benefited from America s Democracy. We ve only suffered from America s hypocrisy, and the generation that s coming up now can see it and are not afraid to say it. If you go to jail, so what! If you re black, you were born in jail. If you black you were born in jail, in the North as well as the South. Stop talking about the South, as long as you South of the Canadian border, you re South. Don t call Governor Wallace a Dixie governor, Romney is a Dixie governor. Twenty two million black victims of Americanism are waking up and they re gaining a new political conscious. They re becoming politically mature and as they develop this politically maturity their able to see the recent trends in these political elections."
1965 civil rights scenes, Martin Luther King leading line of marchers on city sidewalk in Selma, Alabama. Cops with batons, on horseback, brutalizing marchers, using fire hoses. Old women marchers covering faces against tear gas. Police running and chasing demonstrators. Tear gas exploding, chaos in streets.
BW footage of urban African American poverty. African American woman with a baby, young black boy in a filthy bathroom, traveling shot of poor neighborhood. BW footage of the "Mississippi Burning" murders - the murders of 3 civil rights workers in June 1964. Excerpt from RFK's "Day of Affirmation" speech. "Many nations have set forth their own definitions and declarations of these principles. And there have often been wide and tragic gaps between promise and performance, ideal and reality. Yet the great ideals have constantly recalled us to our own duties. And with painful slowness, we in the United States have extended and enlarged the meaning and the practice of freedom to all of our people."
White man pouring acid into swimming pool while African Americans swim in it. African Americans holding pickets demanding educational improvements. African American men marching with homemade signs. Police officers dragging civil rights marchers away. Civil rights march. Traveling shot of burned out buildings following rioting. "Two generations later, President Kennedy became the first Irish Catholic, and the first Catholic, to head the nation; but how many men of ability had, before 1961, been denied the opportunity to contribute to the nation's progress because they were Catholic, or because they were of Irish extraction? How many sons of Italian or Jewish or Polish parents slumbered in the slums -- untaught, unlearned, their potential lost forever to our nation and to the human race? Even today, what price will we pay before we have assured full opportunity to millions of Negro Americans? In the last five years we have done more to assure equality to our Negro citizens and to help the deprived, both white and black, than in the hundred years before that time. But much, much more remains to be done. For there are millions of Negroes untrained for the simplest of jobs, and thousands every day denied their full and equal rights under the law; and the violence of the disinherited, the insulted and the injured, looms over the streets of Harlem and of Watts and the South side of Chicago."
MCU of MLK speaking about the murder of a white pro-civil rights minister from Boston. "He was murdered by the irresponsibility of every politician from governors on down, who have fed his constituents a stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. He was murdered by the timidity of a federal government that can spend millions dollars a day to keep troops in South Vietnam and cannot protect the lives of their own citizens seeking the right to vote."
FO/FI on MCU of Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. speaks in reaction to the violence at the march: "We have no alternative but to keep moving with determination. We've gone to far now to turn back. And in a real sense we are moving and we cannot afford to stop because Alabama and because our nation has a date with destiny."
VO of Universal newsreel announcer talking about two prior attempts which failed b/c state troops forced marchers back, but now, under a federal court injunction they are able to march under federal protection; shots of marchers crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge;
March on Selma, Alabama, March 21, 1965: MS of Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR, "We re going to walk non-violently and peacefully, to let the nation and the world know, we are tired now. We ve lived with slavery and segregation 345 years. We ve waited a long time for freedom. We re trying to remind the nation of the urgency of the moment. Now is the time to make real promises of democracy. Now is the time." MSs of marchers picking up sleeping bags, belongings, beginning march; whites and blacks march arm in arm.
Footage of first march on Selma, Alabama, March 7, 1965, aka Bloody Sunday : EST shot Edmund Pettus Bridge; TLSs police officers on horseback; TLSs protesters; MSs police officers in gas masks, riot gear, holding billy clubs; a police officer orders the marchers to disperse; demonstrators are ordered to stop, that "this march will not continue"; cops rush in, push back demonstrators at the beginning of the line; chaos ensues, the cops running roughshod over the peaceful demonstrators who are knocked to the ground, gassed, sprayed with fire hoses, beaten with batons. Violence. Civil rights.
Excerpt of Universal newsreel regarding first march on Selma, AL. EST shots of Brown Chapel, AME Church in Selma.
MS President LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON taking seat at table prior to signing Civil Rights Act; MS President Johnson delivering national address: "Tonight I urge every public official, every religious leader, every business & professional man, every working man, every housewife; I urge every American to join in this effort to bring to justice & hope to all our people & to bring peace to our land." MS politicians standing, applauding, Sen. HUBERT H. HUMPHREY leading charge-- but note that Atty. Gen. ROBERT F. KENNEDY (RFK) remains seated & applauds politely, a gesture rather emblematic of his bitter relationship w/ LBJ. MSs Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, passing pens to the likes of Dr. Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., Robert Kennedy, and FBI Director J. EDGAR HOOVER.
LS picketers marching in Memphis, Tennessee, supporting 1300 striking African-American sanitation workers; MS Reverend MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. marching arm in arm with protesters; LS white police officers wearing gas masks, riot helmets & wielding billy clubs, keeping rabble in line on sidewalk; LS black people running along street, away from tear gas. CU Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking, delivering speech in Memphis, April 3, 1968 (excerpt of "Mountaintop" speech requires express written consent from the King estate in Atlanta): "I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter w/ me now b/c I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life - longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land." FO/FI TLS/MSs Memphis police officers investigating crime scene at Lorraine Motel following assassination of MLK, Jr., April 4, 1968. Nationwide riots following death of MLK: shaky (but good) panning TLS police squad car driving along city street, night; panning shot crowd passing broken shop windows, night; LS large fire burning from city bldg, nite; MS National Guardsmen carrying wounded man, night; panning MS broken windows, steel gate outside Bostonian store; traveling shots black youth hauling looted goods, day; LS/TLSs police officers wearing gas masks, firing tear gas, day. TLS U.S. Senator ROBERT F. KENNEDY (D-NY) speaking to crowd in Indianapolis, Indiana, following MLK assassination, Aug 4 1968: "For those of you who are black & are tempted to be filled w/ hatred & distrust..." MSs widow CORETTA SCOTT KING & bereaved King family viewing open casket of Martin Luther King Jr during wake. High angle LS mule-driven funeral procession of MLK through streets of Atlanta, GA, Apr 9, 1968; h/a TLS Robert Kennedy (RFK, Bobby Kennedy) marching in funeral parade, wife ETHEL KENNEDY (Ethel Skakel Kennedy) walking behind him; MS DWIGHT EISENHOWER (Ike, Dwight D. Eisenhower) and RICHARD NIXON (Tricky Dick, Richard M. Nixon) marching in funerary parade, basketball star WILT CHAMBERLAIN (it appears that Lola Falana walks to his right) marching behind them. LS/TLSs mule-drawn funeral cortege through streets of Washington, DC.
