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

Description

In this WSB newsfilm clip from July 12, 1963, Mississippi governor Ross Barnett testifies before a Congressional committee against proposed civil rights legislation in Washington, D.C.The clip begins by showing a large audience in a conference room. Men sit at tables set in rows opposite an audience that sits in chairs. Mississippi governor Ross Barnett appears to speak. His comments are not initially recorded. After more views of the audience in the chamber, Barnett's comments are recorded. He accuses the Civil Rights movement of using communist tactics "to create crisis and then to leave the scene with heartaches, turmoil, and strife." Barnett claims the movement uses such tactics to increase racial conflict in a community and then lets things cool off, citing recent events in Birmingham, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; Danville, Virginia; Cambridge, Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and New York City, New York. Barnett asserts that each time civil rights groups "attack with a hammer and then withdraw," they further damage "existing good relations of the people of this great nation." He declares that legislation will not cure racial problems but will instead "mean the complete end of Constitutional government in America and result in racial violence of unimaginable scope."President John F. Kennedy proposed civil rights legislation during a speech to the nation shortly after the integration of the University of Alabama in June 1963 and sent a bill to Congress for its consideration shortly after that. In October, a new version of the bill was crafted during negotiations between the president...

Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia