WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Description

In this compilation WSB newsfilm clips from Americus, Georgia, on July 29, 1965, segregationist gubernatorial candidate Lester Maddox speaks to a white audience; WSB newsman Tom Brokaw interviews Americus mayor T. Griffin Walker; and African Americans protest segregation. The clip begins with Georgia State Highway patrolmen in raincoats standing under a tree and watching a group of students, primarily African American, as they demonstrate by singing and dancing in the rain. Next, African Americans lead a white student wearing a blood-stained shirt from a building as he holds a rag to his mouth (possibly Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) member Ralph Allen). As he gets in a car driven by an African American student, a large tear in his shirt becomes visible. After a break in the clip, a white crowd gathered in a recreation facility listens to Atlanta-based segregationist and gubernatorial candidate Lester Maddox. Maddox outlines his priorities, which include private property rights, states' rights in constitutional government, and "to run the 'renegades' out of high places in the state of Georgia and in the nation's capital." Next, state troopers stand around patrol cars in a parking lot, after which Mayor Walker answers reporter Tom Brokaw's question about a possible curfew. Although Walker explains that the city council does not feel the current racial situation requires a curfew, he does ask all citizens to refrain from congregating in groups, and to avoid the streets at night. Following the exchange between Walker and Brokaw, African Americans march two-by-two, as they...

Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia