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Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
Klan's A.B.C. protest march of open housing in front of Jefferson Hotel. 4-6-68
Date Created
1968-04-06
Reel Format
Super 8mm
Reel Description
This reel contains footage of individuals protesting against a conference on fair housing in front of the Hotel Jefferson in Richmond, Virginia on April 6, 1968. There are approximately ten individuals in the protest. This appears to be a group of majority white participants.
Timestamp Description
00:00:10 Footage begins. Individuals holdings protest signs walk from the left to the right of the frame. Cars are visible driving by behind them. Sign reads: "Christ is the Answer Not Open Houseing [sic]", "Perfect Equality Soul Brothers" with a drawing of two rats with "Young" and "Willett" written in them, and a dome shaped home, "Open Housing Never", "Never", a drawing of a large red cross with "Preachers Have You Forgot Calvary" written around it.
00:00:17 Footage of the same protest from a different angle, protestors walk from the right to left of the frame. Individuals march single file while holding signs. New signs read: "Do You Support One Or More Of These Organizations? NCC, AFL, CEO, SCLC, [CORE?], NAACP, [Illegible], SNCC, [Illegible], AJC, [Illegible], Church Member Where Does Your Tithes and Offerings Go?", "Can You Honestly Support Open Housing?", "Is Your Church [Represented?] in the Coalition? The National Council of Church [Illegible sentence] Open Housing Will [Illegible] [Illegible] Worse!", "We Need A New School Superintendent -Willett- has Betrayed Us". A Jefferson Hotel van is visible behind the last marcher.
00:00:37 Footage of an individual wearing a cap, sunglasses, and smoking a cigar walking past the protest.
00:00:39 Footage of the same protest from a different angle, protestors walk from the left to right of the frame. The camera focuses more on individual faces than on their signs, which are cut off. They walk by a parked car, it appears to be a police car.
00:00:49 Footage of an individual crossing the street parallel to the protest. The individual leans on a lamp post with a photographic camera around their neck. A police car pulls into the parking lot entrance to their right.
00:00:57 Footage of the protestors, walking from the right to left of frame. New signs read: "Open Houseing [sic] On The Moon, Free Squatters Rights", a drawing of a rat with "Willett the Rat" written in it and written below "Get Him Out of Our School Before He Gets Under Your House", "Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. [Jeremiah 23?] Ministers - Why? Are you leading the people in her wrong way. Denounce the N.C.C. and come ye out from among THEM".
00:01:16 A wider shot of the protestors, with a street sign for "N Jefferson St" in the background. Individuals are most likely walking east on Main Street between Jefferson and Adams St. An individual walks up to the line of marchers and speaks with one of them. New sign: "We Respect Both Races Help Us Keep Them Pure". The camera zooms in on an individual standing on the corner of the street behind the marchers.
00:01:30 Footage of the individual with a camera across the street, with a parking lot behind them. Protestors walk through the zoomed in shot.
00:01:37 Zoomed in footage of another individual across the street smoking a cigarette. Then a cut to another individual crossing through the parking lot.
00:01:50 Footage of the protestors walking east on Main Street. New signs: "We Want Our Neighbors All White", "Help Us Keep Our Neighborhood Peacefull [sic]", "Never 'Willett' Never".
00:02:14 Footage of the marchers filmed from across the street from the hotel, they walk from the left to right of frame. A Black individual stands on the sidewalk observing them.
00:02:28 Footage of the facade of the hotel, panning across the words "The Jefferson".
00:02:34 Footage of the marchers filmed from a distance, with the hotel awning visible which reads "The Jefferson". Other individuals walk by on the right side of the protestors. When the protestors reach a certain point, they all about face and walk in the other direction.
00:02:49 Footage of four individuals filmed from a distance, standing on the corner of Jefferson and Main Streets, laughing. One individual holds up two fingers in a "V" towards the camera, another takes a photograph of the individual filming.
00:03:03 Footage of the protestors walking east on Main Street. They abruptly about face and begin walking west.
00:03:28 Footage ends.
Event Description
On April 6, 1968, 175 education, religious, civic, social, and business leaders met at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Virginia for a conference about issues in housing in the area. The keynote speaker was Richmond Public Schools superintendent Dr. H.I. Willett. Executive Director of the National Urban League, Whitney M. Young Jr., spoke to the conference via telephone about the impending passage of federal fair housing legislation. A group of segregationists protested in front of the entrance to the hotel. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 7, 1968).
Runtime
00:03:46
Note
While language on the original reel refers to the "Klan", most likely the Ku Klux Klan, there is no information in the reel or in newspaper reporting of the protest that identifies protestors as Klan members. Newspapers at the time referred to the group as segregationists.
Corporate Name Subject
Jefferson Hotel (Richmond, Va.); Richmond Public Schools (Va.); National Urban League
Topical Subject
Discrimination in housing; Discrimination in housing--Law and legislation; Real covenants; Right to housing; Zoning, Exclusionary; Segregation; United States. Fair Housing Act; White supremacy movements; White nationalism; 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-Fair Housing Protest at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Film Reel #01, 1968 April 6
File Name
VCU_M571_077.mp4