Files
Download File (236.3 MB)
Loading...
Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
3 April '71, March Against Opression [sic], Commeration [sic] of M.L. King's Death, scenes along US #1.
Date Created
1971-04-03
Reel Format
16mm
Reel Description
This reel contains footage of approximately 100 individuals marching along the roadside of U.S. Route 1 in Virginia (somewhere between Petersburg and Richmond, likely closer to Richmond) on April 3, 1971. They were on their way to an event in commemoration of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and against war, racism, and repression in Richmond. The crowd in this part of the march appears to grow as the footage follows them. This appears to be a group of majority Black participants.
Timestamp Description
00:00:12 Footage begins. Footage of individuals walking on the shoulder of a road, filmed from across the road. Cars pass between the individuals walking and the camera. This is likely U.S. Route 1, where individuals walked from Petersburg to Richmond to join the march. Many individuals look at the camera and/or hold up two finger peace signs towards the camera.
00:00:33 Footage of individuals walking on the shoulder of the road in another location, likely still Route 1.
00:00:43 Several individuals jog up the side of the road, passing a building with a "Colony Inn" sign.
00:00:46 Multiple clips of marchers walking past the Colony Inn single file, many have white arm bands on their right arms.
00:01:16 Footage of the same marchers, this clip is filmed from the same side of the road as the marchers. Businesses are visible on the other side of the road. Most individuals wear white armbands on their right of left arms.
00:02:18 Footage of the same marchers, this clip is filmed from the same side of the road as the marchers, with the camera operator further from the road than in the previous clip.
00:03:04 Footage of marchers on the side of the road, a Citgo gas station is visible on the opposite side of the road behind them. Filmed from the same side of the road as the marchers.
00:03:26 A uniformed officer on a police trike drives alongside the protestors on the road. Several businesses are visible on the other side of the road, including "Betty Lewis Discount Bread Box".
00:03:30 Footage of an individual leaning on a car in a parking lot, with the driver's door open.
00:03:31 Footage of the marchers filmed from the other side of the road, walking past a business called "Skinny's Kitchen". The same police trike drives alongside the marchers.
00:03:58 Footage ends.
Event Description
On April 3, 1971, three years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a crowd of several hundred individuals marched in memory of Dr. King and against war, racism, and repression in Richmond. About 100 participants in the march and rally had marched from Petersburg along route U.S. 1, a journey that took nine hours. They then met another 100 individuals in Monroe Park, and walked down Franklin Street to the Virginia State Capitol Bell Tower. Groups represented at the march were the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Named speakers included Herbert V. Coulton, state director of the SCLC; Reverend Milford W. Walker, state NAACP president; Loretta F. Johnson, president of the Richmond Welfare Rights Organization; Nathaniel Lee Hawthorne, head of the Virginia Students Civil Rights Committee; and Reverend James A. Forbes, president of the Richmond Urban League. Speakers called for a quality education for all, guaranteed annual income using funds that were going to the Vietnam War, and a national and state holiday to honor Dr. King (Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 4, 1971).
Runtime
00:04:15
Personal Name Subject
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
Corporate Name Subject
Southern Christian Leadership Conference; National Welfare Rights Organization (U.S.); National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Topical Subject
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968--Assasination; Demonstrations; Crowds, Public welfare; Welfare rights movement; Civil rights movements; Civil rights movements--United States; Civil rights demonstrations; Civil rights workers; Anti-poverty movements; Memorials; 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
March Against Oppression and Commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King's Death in Richmond Film Reel #01, 1971 April 3
File Name
VCU_M571_157.mp4