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WSB-TV newsfilm clip of press conference with Reverend Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Reverend J. R. Campbell of the Sumter County Movement speaking about civil rights demonstrations in Americus, Georgia, 1965 July 26

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@ Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

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

Description

In this WSB newsfilm clip from July 26, 1965, Reverend Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Reverend J. R. Campbell, leader of the Sumter County Movement, speak to reporters about racial and voter registration conflicts in Americus, Sumter County, Georgia. The clip begins with Williams sitting beside John Lewis, also a member of SCLC. Behind the men is a sign for SCOPE, the Summer Community Organization and Political Education Project, a 1965 SCLC effort directed by Hosea Williams. Williams explains that civil rights workers seek to expand Atlanta's image of "a city too busy to hate" to all of Georgia. He announces that the citizens of Sumter County, represented by Reverend J. R. Campbell and the Sumter County Movement, are uniting with SCLC and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to intensify their efforts to fight voter intimidation in south and southwest Georgia. The united effort will intensify ongoing demonstrations, beginning with a mass meeting Tuesday, July 27, followed by a round-the-clock vigil at the Sumter County Courthouse. Williams declares that civil rights workers will do what is necessary to bring about justice in the area, although there have been beatings, harassment, and rumors of law enforcement officers intentionally failing to protect demonstrators who become victims of violence. He mentions sending North Carolina SCLC field secretary Golden Frinks as an emissary of SCOPE. Williams adds that if the situation continues to worsen, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., head of the SCLC, will come to Americus. He...
Type:
Video
Contributors:
Williams, Hosea, 1926-2000Campbell, J. R. (Joseph R.), 1924-2006
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Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia