- Collection:
- WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection
- Title:
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of a political cartoon drawn by Bill Daniels portraying Georgia governor Lester Maddox and Macon mayor Ronnie Thompson protesting school integration at the expense of a child in Georgia, 1970 February
- Creator:
- WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
- Date of Original:
- 1970-02-00
- Subject:
- Civil rights movements--Georgia
Government, Resistance to--Georgia--Macon
Governors--Georgia
Intervention (Federal government)--Georgia--Macon
Mayors--Georgia--Macon
Race discrimination--Georgia--Macon
School integration--Georgia--Macon
Segregation in education--Georgia--Macon
School children--Georgia--Macon
School integration--Massive resistance movement--Georgia--Macon
School choice--Law and legislation--Georgia--Macon - People:
- Maddox, Lester, 1915-2003
Thompson, Ronnie - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Bibb County, Macon, 32.84069, -83.6324
- Medium:
- moving images
news
unedited footage - Type:
- MovingImage
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- This silent WSB newsfilm clip from February 1970 shows a political cartoon drawn by Bill Daniels portraying Georgia governor Lester Maddox and Macon mayor Ronnie Thompson protesting school integration at the expense of a Georgia school child. The cartoon is shown in parts, focusing first on a cliff and a banner, tied to the end of a pen, with the slogan "Official defiance of courts." Governor Maddox and mayor Thompson use the pen to push a red-haired white boy off the cliff. According to the cartoon, the edge of the cliff leads to "chaos in Georgia schools." Governor Maddox is depicted as saying "We'll defy 'em if it takes th' last school child in Georgy!" The clip ends by showing the whole cartoon. Macon city and Bibb County schools were first desegregated by United States district court judge William A. Bootle in 1964. Although African Americans sought to increase the pace of desegregation, the Bibb county school board implemented a "Freedom of choice" plan, allowing African American parents to request school transfers although relatively few were granted. In late 1969 judge Bootle approved the school board's freedom of choice plan only to be reversed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in December which ordered a full integration and faculty merger by the beginning of the 1970 school year. Responding to a petition by the Macon branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the United States Supreme Court ordered full integration without additional delays on January 14, 1970. A compromise plan approved by judge Bootle required immediate integration of elementary schools and desegregation of middle and high schools by the end of the year. Parents opposed to the integration plan invited Georgia governor Lester Maddox to speak at a Macon rally where he encouraged parents to keep their children home from school rather than accept the integration plan. The February 16 integration took place without violence, although nearly five hundred parents, including mayor Thompson, refused to take their children to the newly-assigned schools. After a week of parents taking their children to the old schools, judge Bootle issued a restraining order blocking schools from issuing credit to students who were not assigned to that school and creating the possibility of fines and imprisonment for uncooperative parents. Mayor Thompson announced his decision to obey court orders, encouraging others to do the same, and filed a lawsuit which continued the fight for "freedom of choice" schools. Political cartoonist Bill Daniels worked with WSB-TV in Atlanta from 1968 until 1974; during that time he drew editorial cartoons that were incorporated into local broadcasts.
Title supplied by cataloger. - Local Identifier:
- Clip number: wsbn58841
- Metadata URL:
- https://crdl.usg.edu/id:ugabma_wsbn_wsbn58841
- Digital Object URL:
- https://crdl.usg.edu/do:ugabma_wsbn_wsbn58841
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/ugabma_wsbn_wsbn58841/presentation/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: wsbn58841, WSB-TV newsfilm clip of a political cartoon drawn by Bill Daniels portraying Georgia governor Lester Maddox and Macon mayor Ronnie Thompson protesting school integration at the expense of a child in Georgia, 1970 February, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1617, 41:35/43:10, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia
- Extent:
- 1 clip (about 1 mins., 35 secs.): color, silent ; 16 mm.
- Original Collection:
- Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.
- Contributing Institution:
- Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection
- Rights:
-
