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Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
Anti-bussing, Skinny Morrisett's parade, 8-29-70
Date Created
1970-08-29
Reel Format
16mm
Reel Description
This reel contains footage of approximately 250 individuals protesting school desegregation by busing in downtown Richmond. Footage shows demonstrators marching at the the Virginia State Capitol grounds, as well as a car protest leaving Skinny's Kitchen in southern Richmond. This appears to be a group of majority white participants.
Timestamp Description
00:00:12 Footage begins. Footage of trees and the sky, appears camera was rolling while being carried.
00:00:22 Zoomed in footage of marchers walking on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol. Many individuals hold signs and small United States of America flags. Uniformed officers on horseback ride on the street next to the sidewalk they march on. Legible signs read: "March With Us At 10:00AM, No Busing", "Impeach Holton", "We Need Freedom of Choice", "Don't Treat Us Like Checkers" with a drawing of a checkerboard, "Support Neighborhood Schools", "Little Kids Get Lost No Busing", "Don't Bus For Racial Balance Please", "Freedom of Choice Only Way", "Freedom of Choice For Kids!", "I'm Fussing About Busing", "No Bus For Us", "Wake Up Today And Pray, No Busing Mine", "I Cry Do You", "Oregon Hill is fighting Against Busing", "No Bus", "Will Right Or Might Prevail [Illegible Sentence]", "Freedom of Choice Yes Busing Never", "You May Not Kidnap My Children With Your Illegal Forced Busing 'Forced Race Mix Busing' Is Illegal", "Don't Bus Me!", "Why Fight For Freedom In Viet Nam When We Don't Have Freedom In America!", "Busing is Too Expenisve For the Taxpayer", "August 31st D-Day", "Bus us? HELL NO", "Where Will Your Child Be On The 31st? Mine Will Be Home", "Freedom of Choice, We Are From Oregon Hill, No Busing", "In God We Trust", "What Happened to Our Freedom", "Attention All Parents!! Stand Up For Your Freedom Before It's Too Late! Don't Be A Jelly Fish!!", "Your Eyes May Water And Your Teeth May Grit. But My Children On School Bus You'll Never Get!", "If the People of Richmond Stand Together against BUSING There's A Lot of Empty Buses [Illegible sentence]", "I Don't Want To [Quite?]! So Don't Bus Us", "No School Aug. 31", "No Busing Cross Town, Unite And Fight", "Win the War, In God We Trust", "Public Control of Public Schools", "Stand Up Together In The Fight For Freedom" with a drawing of two human figures, "I Wouldn't Treat A Dog Like That!", "Where Is Your Child Going To Be On August 31st I Hope At Home", "Are We Americans Or Communist", "Why Lose When You Can Win?", "Three Buses To Get To School, How would you like to go to school in Cold, Rain + Snow", "Forced Busing Is Unconstitutional", "No Bussing [sic] Took Children With A Bag With Some Writing Witch They [Had?] To Bring This Busing To A End", "Righteousness [Illegible] A Nation", "Don't Bus My Children", "[Hang?] Together or We [Hang?] Separately", and "Concerned Parents Busing Never".
00:02:13 Panning footage of cars parked outside of a business called Skinny's Kitchen. Several cars have anti-busing signage attached to their exteriors. Street signs read "Jeff Davis Hwy" and "Courtland St". Legible signage reads "Bus My Kids, Hello No" and "To Hell With Busing". Several individuals sitting in the cars wave at the camera.
00:02:42 Panning footage of the cars in the previous clip driving down the street, with others preparing to leave the Skinny's Kitchen parking lot. A car drives by with "Bus The Judge, No Busing" written on it. Another car passes with someone holding a cardboard sign out of the back passenger window towards the camera which reads "Busing Makes Me Feel Like Cussing". A box truck drives by with multiple signs taped to it: "Give Us Back Our Schools" and "To Hell With Busing".
00:03:58 Footage ends.
Event Description
On August 29, 1970, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court Warren E. Burger denied the City of Richmond's motion for a stay of the city's school desegregation order, which had been decreed by U.S. District Court Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr. on August 17. The decree required bussing some 13,000 of the city's 50,000 public school students in order to meet school integration requirements. The order gave school officials until November to desegregate the school system. The school board had voted against seeking a stay 5-2, while City Council voted in favor 6-1 (Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 30, 1970). On the same day, a crowd of approximately 250 adults and children marched from Monroe Park to the Virginia State Capitol to protest the desegregation busing plan (Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 30, 1970).
Runtime
00:04:10
Personal Name Subject
Merhige, Robert R.
Corporate Name Subject
Richmond Public Schools (Va.)
Topical Subject
Busing for school integration; School integration; Segregation in education; Signs and signboards; Demonstrations; Crowds; White supremacy movements; White nationalism; Mounted police; Police horses; Animals in police work; Police; Police patrol--Surveillance operations; Electronic surveillance; Video surveillance
City/Location
Richmond (Va.)
Genre
color films (visual works)
Local Genre
moving image
Type
Moving Image
Digital Format
video/mp4
Language
eng
Rights Statement URL
Rights
This material is in the public domain in the United States and thus is free of any copyright restriction. Acknowledgement of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is requested.
Collection
Richmond Police Department Surveillance Collection
Source
Anti-Busing Protest in Richmond Film Reel #02, 1970 August 29
File Name
VCU_M571_108.mp4