Skip to main content

Series of WSB-TV newsfilm clips of Lester Maddox promoting states' rights and segregation as he speaks to a white audience in Americus, Georgia, 1965 July 29

View
@ Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection
Pinterest logo

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

Description

In this series of WSB-TV newsfilm clips from July 29, 1965, Georgia segregationist and gubernatorial candidate Lester Maddox speaks to a white crowd in Americus, Georgia. The clip begins with an African American man, possibly incarcerated, being led by a white man. Two African Americans, Eddie James Lamar and Charlie Lee Hopkins, were arrested following the July 28 shooting death of 21-year-old white Americus resident Andrew Whatley. Following a break in the clip, unidentified buildings appear, as do Georgia patrol cars and state troopers. Next, Maddox speaks to a crowd gathered in an Americus recreation facility. He explains that he is in Americus on a "mission of peace." He calls for the restoration of states' rights, exclaiming, "We are going to get them like George Wallace in the White House and save this great land!" Maddox urges the crowd to make their feelings known "at the voting booths and with your dollar." Maddox, who says, "I belong here in Georgia," challenges those who criticize his presence in Americus as an "outsider" and condemns them for not being equally critical of the nonresident African Americans who have come to support the civil rights movement in Americus. Maddox also disparages the media for what he sees as inconsistency; he expresses appreciation for media presence at the rally and for fairness and kindness in the past, but then faults them for calling his wife while she is recuperating in the hospital. "I'm proud to be called a segregationist," he says, "but I challenge...
Type:
Video
Contributors:
Maddox, Lester, 1915-2003
View Original At:

Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia