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WSB-TV newsfilm clip of lunch counter employees shutting down operations to avoid integration, and Freedom Riders sitting in the Trailways bus terminal and then being arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, 1961 May

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@ Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

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

Description

In this silent WSB newsfilm clip from May 1961, white lunch counter operators close to avoid integration and Freedom Riders sit in the white waiting room and later are arrested at the Trailways bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi.The clip begins with white waitresses in uniform standing behind a lunch counter while a man in a suit stands at the edge of the counter. A white male employee ropes off the lunch counter; handwritten signs attached to the rope read "closed." Next, four African American men sit in a waiting room. One of the men pulls out a book while he waits. A white young man sits down at one end of the bench. Two other young men, one African American and one white, sit next to each other and appear to speak to one another. In the waiting room, a soldier with a gun slung across his back is seen from behind. Over his shoulder, a cameraman takes pictures of the interracial group in the waiting room. Later, several soldiers with "MP" armbands board a bus. Two African American men get off another bus and walk to a waiting group; a cameraman takes a picture and walks away. A sign on the door of the Trailways station indicates the waiting room is for white passengers traveling within Mississippi. Back inside the waiting room, a white police officer speaks to two African American men who sit on benches. Officers help both men stand up as men with cameras take pictures. Both...
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Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia