- Collection:
- WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection
- Title:
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of a protest against segregation at a YMCA while an official tries to explain policy, Atlanta, Georgia, 1967 June 15
- Creator:
- WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
- Contributor to Resource:
- McCann, Les, 1935-
- Date of Original:
- 1967-06-15
- Subject:
- Young Men's Christian associations--Georgia--Atlanta
Young Men's Christian associations--Membership
African Americans--Georgia--Atlanta
Race relations
Segregation--Georgia--Atlanta
Clubs--Georgia--Atlanta
African Americans--Segregation
African Americans--Segregation--Georgia--Atlanta
African Americans--Segregation--Southern States
Discrimination in public accommodations--Georgia--Atlanta
Segregationists--Georgia
Race discrimination--Georgia--Atlanta
Race discrimination--Southern States
Racism--Georgia--Atlanta
Racism--Southern States
African Americans--Social conditions--20th century
Prejudices--Georgia--Atlanta
Prejudices--Southern States
African Americans--Civil rights--Georgia
African Americans--Civil rights--Southern States
Civil rights--Southern States
Civil rights--Georgia--Atlanta
Civil rights movements--Georgia--Atlanta
Civil rights demonstrations--Georgia--Atlanta
Civil rights workers
Civil rights workers--Georgia--Atlanta
African American civil rights workers
African American civil rights workers--Georgia--Atlanta
African American musicians
African American musicians--Georgia--Atlanta
African American musicians--Social conditions--20th century
African American jazz musicians
African American jazz musicians--Georgia--Atlanta
Jazz musicians--Georgia--Atlanta
Jazz musicians
Musicians--Georgia--Atlanta
Musicians
Associations, institutions, etc.--Membership
Associations, institutions, etc.--Membership--Georgia--Atlanta
Associations, institutions, etc.--African American membership
Associations, institutions, etc.--African American membership--Georgia--Atlanta
Christian ethics
Christian ethics--Southern States
Christian ethics--Georgia--Atlanta
Membership cards
Fires--Georgia--Atlanta
Fire--Symbolic aspects
Reporters and reporting--Georgia--Atlanta
Press-Georgia--Atlanta
Press conferences--Georgia--Atlanta
United States--Race relations
Southern States--Race relations
Georgia--Social conditions--20th century - People:
- McCann, Les, 1935-
Carmichael, Stokely, 1941-1998 - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, 33.79025, -84.46702
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798 - Medium:
- moving images
news
unedited footage - Type:
- MovingImage
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- In this WSB newsfilm clip from Atlanta, Georgia, dated June 15, 1967, Les McCann, an African American YMCA member from California, describes his experience being turned away by the downtown Atlanta YMCA because the club had not integrated; McCann and SNCC members including Stokely Carmichael protest the downtown Atlanta YMCA facilities; and a downtown Atlanta YMCA spokesperson explains the institution's segregation policy.
The clip begins with three silent shots. The first is of Les McCann, an African American jazz musician and resident of Hollywood, California, reading a written document, surrounded by members of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(SNCC), who organized a protest against the club after it refused to let McCann use its facilities.
The next shot is of the facade of the downtown Atlanta YMCA building; this is followed by a shot of McCann from behind, standing amidst the same group of people. The next shot opens with sound; here, Les McCann, standing with a small group of SNCC members, describes how staff at the downtown Atlanta YMCA refused to honor his YMCA membership. He recalls his arrival at the club on Tuesday morning, where he visited the membership office and presented his membership card. He was then denied services by a member of the YMCA staff, who informed him that the club was not integrated. He expresses surprise and disbelief at being denied service by an organization representing Christianity.
In several silent shots that follow, McCann speaks to a small group of SNCC members, which includes SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael; next, he opens up his wallet, pulls out his YMCA membership card and presents it to the camera. In the next shot, McCann and Carmichael light his membership card on fire in front of the YMCA building entrance. In two more silent shots, a white spokesperson from the downtown Atlanta YMCA speaks to a reporter in front of the YMCA building; this is followed by a closeup shot of the letters "YMCA" on the building's facade. Next, in a shot containing an audio track, the same YMCA representative defends the club's segregation policy to a reporter by stating that there is already a very large membership for a very limited facility.
On June 15, 1967, SNCC organized a news conference with African American musician Les McCann to protest the segregation of Atlanta's downtown YMCA facility. McCann, a resident of California, and a California YMCA member, was denied access to the downtown Atlanta YMCA on Tuesday, June 13, 1967. Although the YMCA's national board had established a policy of integration in 1946, the desegregation of YMCA facilities was controlled at the local level, and implemented in varying degrees and timelines. As late as 1968, twenty local YMCA affiliates still practiced segregation. Administrators at the downtown Atlanta YMCA asserted that their facility was a private organization, and therefore not subject to national policies on integration.
Title supplied by cataloger. - Local Identifier:
- Clip number: wsbn51627
- Metadata URL:
- https://crdl.usg.edu/id:ugabma_wsbn_wsbn51627
- Digital Object URL:
- https://crdl.usg.edu/do:ugabma_wsbn_wsbn51627
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/ugabma_wsbn_wsbn51627/presentation/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: wsbn51627, WSB-TV newsfilm clip of a protest against segregation at a YMCA while an official tries to explain policy, Atlanta, Georgia, 1967 June 15, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1388, 21:53/23:07, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia
- Extent:
- 1 clip (about 1 mins., 14 secs.): color, 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:
-
