- Collection:
- WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection
- Title:
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, clarifying the history of sit-ins as a direct action tactic at a press conference, 1960
- Creator:
- WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
- Date of Original:
- 1960
- Subject:
- Civil rights workers--United States
African American civil rights workers--United States
Sit-ins--United States
Civil rights movements--United States
Civil rights demonstrations--United States
Reporters and reporting--United States
Press conferences--United States
Camera operators--United States
Segregation--United States
Discrimination in public accommodations--United States
Discrimination in restaurants--United States
Direct action--United States
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - People:
- Wilkins, Roy, 1901-1981
- Location:
- United States, 39.76, -98.5
- Medium:
- news
unedited footage - Type:
- MovingImage
- Description:
- In this WSB newsfilm clip from 1960, Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), to reporters at a press conference about the wave of sit-ins throughout the United States sparked by four North Carolina students.
The clip begins with Roy Wilkins sitting in a room with empty chairs facing cameras and lights; cameramen and reporters are seen behind the cameras. During a silent portion of the clip, Wilkins appears to speak. After the silent portion of the clip, Wilkins explains that the tactic of sitting at a lunch counter and waiting until being served did not begin with the February 1, 1960 event in Greensboro, North Carolina and claims that the NAACP originated sit-ins. He explains that local youth group NAACP chapters in Wichita, Kansas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma conducted sit-ins in 1958 that led to desegregation. He also reminds the audience that in 1959 NAACP youth council members held sit-ins in Saint Louis. He concludes with another assertion that the NAACP originated the concept of sit-ins.
Although there is some dispute as to whether the idea of sit-ins began with the NAACP or with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), sit-ins were conducted with mixed results before 1960. Sit-ins in 1958 in Oklahoma and Kansas resulted in lunch counter integration; similar attempts in 1959 were unsuccessful in Miami and in Saint Louis, where stores removed the lunch counters. After the February 1, 1960 sit-in by four students at North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, young civil rights workers around the country began holding lunch counter sit-ins and demanding integrated service. This younger generation of civil rights workers responded enthusiastically to the nonviolent, direct action tactics embodied in the sit-ins. In response to the surge of student activism, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) hosted a student conference in April at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina; during this meeting, the participants formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC played a central roll in the Civil Rights movement for the next several years. By the fall of 1961, every Southern and border state had experienced sit-ins, with over one hundred communities effected and over seventy thousand individuals arrested throughout the country.
Title supplied by cataloger.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for digital conversion and description of the WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection. - Local Identifier:
- wsbn33019
- Metadata URL:
- https://crdl.usg.edu/id:ugabma_wsbn_wsbn33019
- Digital Object URL:
- https://crdl.usg.edu/do:ugabma_wsbn_wsbn33019
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/ugabma_wsbn_wsbn33019/presentation/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, clarifying the history of sit-ins as a direct action tactic at a press conference, 1960, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 0735, 12:19/13:14, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga, as presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.
- Extent:
- 1 clip (about 1 min.): black-and-white, sound ; 16 mm.
- Original Collection:
- Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection
- Contributing Institution:
- Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection
- Rights:
-
