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- Collection:
- WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection
- Title:
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Hosea Williams speaking about the possibility of violence in the Civil Rights movement, 1966 July
- Creator:
- WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
- Contributor to Resource:
- Williams, Hosea, 1926-2000
- Date of Original:
- 1966-07
- Subject:
- African Americans--Civil rights
African American civil rights workers
Civil rights workers
Civil rights workers--United States
Civil rights demonstrations--United States
Civil rights demonstrations--Mississippi
Civil rights demonstrations--Southern States
Civil rights movements--Mississippi
Civil rights movements--Southern States
Violence--United States
Violence--Mississippi
Political violence--Southern States--History--20th century
Nonviolence--United States
Nonviolence--United States--History--20th century
African American clergy
Clergy
Self-defense
African American civil rights workers--Attitudes
African American civil rights workers--Violence against
Civil rights workers--Attitudes
Civil rights workers--Violence against
Civil rights
Civil rights--Mississippi
Civil rights--Southern States
African Americans--Civil rights--Mississippi
African Americans--Civil rights--Southern States
African Americans--Violence against
Offenses against the person
Race relations
United States--Race relations
Mississippi--Race relations
Southern States--Race relations
Race discrimination--United States
Race discrimination--Southern States
Racism--United States
Racism--Southern States
Riots
Race riots
Riots--California--Los Angeles
Race riots--California--Los Angeles
Watts Riot, Los Angeles, Calif., 1965
Riots--Illinois--Chicago
Race riots--Illinois--Chicago
Violence--Forecasting
Interpersonal confrontation
Despair
African Americans--Social conditions--20th century
Whites--Social conditions--20th century
African Americans--Social conditions--1964-1975
Youth
Communication
Publicity
Press conferences
Reporters and reporting
Television camera operators
Television cameras
Microphone
United States--Social conditions--1960-1980
Southern States--Social conditions--1960-1980
Mississippi--Social conditions--1960-1980
United States--Social conditions--20th century
Southern States--Social conditions--20th century
Watts (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Race relations
Watts (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Social conditions--20th century
Chicago (Ill.)--Race relations--20th century
Chicago (Ill.)--Social conditions--20th century - People:
- Williams, Hosea, 1926-2000
Boone, Joseph E., 1922-2006 - Location:
- United States, Alabama, 32.75041, -86.75026
United States, California, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, 34.05223, -118.24368
United States, California, Los Angeles County, Watts, 33.94057, -118.24285
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, 41.85003, -87.65005
United States, Mississippi, 32.75041, -89.75036
United States, Southern States, 33.346678, -84.119434 - Medium:
- moving images
news
unedited footage - Type:
- MovingImage
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- In this WSB clip dated July 1966, several African American leaders respond to questions at what appears to be a press conference, the location of which is unknown. Reverend Hosea Williams, speaking on behalf of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), expresses his opinions on the SCLC's role in mitigating an outbreak of violence during recent demonstrations in Mississippi, on the importance of a strong SCLC presence nationally, on the loss of hope in the efficacy of nonviolent protest, and strategy to regain support for the SCLC and nonviolence.
The clip begins in silence. Three African American men are seated in front of a table where a series of microphones are arranged. On the left, Reverend Joseph E. Boone is speaking. Reverend Hosea Williams is in the middle; the man on the right is unidentified. This is followed by a shot of an audience of young, mostly white people, then by a shot of Williams speaking emphatically to Boone. The camera then focuses in on the small table of microphones, and on a camera operator looking through a television camera. The next shot opens with sound. Here, Hosea Williams says "if it hadn't have been for SCLC, I'm certain that the march in Mississippi would have finally ventured into a shooting war." When asked "why" by a reporter, Williams responds "Because there are forces that do not feel about nonviolence--the power of nonviolence--like SCLC," presumably referring to civil rights organizations such as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), who recently began to accept violence as a means of self-defense. He continues, noting "unless the Southern Christian Leadership Conference widens its scope in this nation, unless the Southern Christian Leadership Conference becomes more vigorous in its activities in this nation, there's not only going to be riots in Chicago and riots in Watts (referring to the Watts riots of August 1965 and Chicago's West Side riots in July 1966), there are going to be riots in Georgia and Alabama because this country has so desponded and frustrated Negroes now that they themselves are losing hope in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. But I think with an exaggerated program, with us putting more impetus into nonviolence that we can still lead the Negroes in a nonviolent manner."
In the summer of 1966, James Meredith, the first African American student to attend the University of Mississippi, organized a "walk against fear" from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi, with the intent to encourage voter turnout and demonstrate that African Americans could prevail over white violence in the region. The march lasted for approximately three weeks, beginning on June 5, and ending on June 26. On June 6, the second day of the march, James Meredith was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt. Upon the discovery of Meredith's injury, leaders of SCLC, SNCC and CORE came to Tennessee to support Meredith and continue the march. Although the leaders of these organizations initially made a good faith effort to demonstrate unity to the press and public, tensions between the three civil rights groups were exacerbated during the march, largely induced by the intense violence and racism that surrounded them in Tennessee and Mississippi. Martin Luther King, Jr. objected to the use of the slogan "black power," which SNCC chairman Stokely Carmichael popularized after an altercation with law enforcement officials along the march route in Greenwood, Mississippi. King believed that such rhetoric worked against building constructive coalitions with white civil rights sympathizers, which he felt were necessary to achieve success. King had also become discouraged with the increasing acceptance of defensive or retaliatory violence by members of SNCC and CORE, as well as the spread of that acceptance amongst members of the national civil rights movement, who were wearied by the violence enacted against them. Tensions between the three organizations at the end of the march were financial as well as ideological; SCLC was held responsible for costs incurred by all three organizations, as CORE and SNCC had failed to raise any funds. Frustrated SCLC aides had become embittered by the strains endured in Mississippi, and began to reveal a sense of discord in the movement to the press.
Title supplied by cataloger. - Local Identifier:
- Clip number: wsbn49863
- Metadata URL:
- https://crdl.usg.edu/id:ugabma_wsbn_wsbn49863
- Digital Object URL:
- https://crdl.usg.edu/do:ugabma_wsbn_wsbn49863
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/ugabma_wsbn_wsbn49863/presentation/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: wsbn49863, WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Hosea Williams speaking about the possibility of violence in the Civil Rights movement, 1966 July, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1343, 4:54/06:15, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia
- Extent:
- 1 clip (about 1 mins., 21 secs.): 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:
-