Files
Download File (197.3 MB)
Loading...
Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
Klan's A.B.C., protest march of open housing in front of Jefferson Hotel, short strip of Dianne Sugg. 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 away from the camera, west on Main Street towards Jefferson St. A van is visible parked on the street to their left, and another individual stands separately closer to the hotel. When the marchers reach the corner, they abruptly about face and begin walking east on Main Street. The camera zooms out and the awning of the Jefferson Hotel is visible. Their signs read: a drawing of a large red cross with "Preachers Have You Forgot Calvary" written around it, "Open Housing Never", "Open Houseing [sic] On The Moon, Free Squatters Rights", "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?", "Open Housing, Integration In Our Schools Contrary To God's Moral Laws", " "Help Us Keep Our Neighborhood Peacefull [sic]".
00:00:57 Footage of two individuals standing on the sidewalk closer to the Jefferson Hotel looking in the direction of the camera, speaking to one another. On the left of the frame, a hotel worker in a red blazer loads a dolly into a van with "Jefferson Hotel" painted on it.
00:01:02 Pedestrians walk west on Main Street as protestors walk east. Some observers stand on either side of the protestors and appear to be reading their signs. New signs read: "We Want Our Neighbors All White", "We Need A New School Superintendent -Willett- has Betrayed Us", "Is Your Church [Represented?] in the Coalition? The National Council of Church [Illegible sentence] Open Housing Will [Illegible] [Illegible] Worse!".
00:01:28 Zoomed in footage of two individuals who appear to be white passing the protestors. The camera stays with them, and the individual on the right looks into the camera.
00:01:32 Footage of the protestors marching east on Main Street towards and past the camera. New signs read: "Perfect Equality Soul Brothers" with a drawing of two rats with "Young" and "Willett" written in them, and a dome shaped home, "Christ is the Answer Not Open Houseing [sic]", 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", "Can You Honestly Support Open Housing?", "Never 'Willett' Never".
00:01:46 Footage of a van driving west on Main Street, filmed from the sidewalk.
00:01:49 Footage of the same van from the back as it is stopped in the road. Protestors can be partially seen on the right side of the frame. New sign: "We Respect Both Races Help Us Keep Them Pure".
00:01:54 Footage of a Black individual crossing Main Street towards the hotel, they lift their bag to cover their face when they see the camera filming them.
00:01:59 Zoomed in footage of a white individual in sunglasses and a trench coat speaking with a protestor, then walking away. The protestor they were speaking to is holding multiple signs, and other protestors walk up and hand their signs to them. The camera pans across all the protestors as they wait to hand their signs in.
00:02:26 Footage of an individual in a cap, sunglasses, smoking a cigar walking west on Main Street on the opposite side of the street from the hotel. Another individual jogs up to them and they speak.
00:02:45 Footage of the protestors leaving the area, filmed from a distance. They walk west on Main Street towards Jefferson Street. Approximately eight individuals are visible.
00:03:03 Footage of a marquee reading "Hotel Jefferson".
00:03:11 Footage of Main Street filmed across from the Jefferson Hotel, with traffic driving west on Main and the "N Jefferson St" street sign visible. A Greyhound bus is partially visible parked on the right side of the frame.
00:03:13 Footage goes black.
00:03:20 Footage of a car driving down a multi-lane road, filmed from a car behind it.
00:03:24 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
00:03:36
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 #02, 1968 April 6
File Name
VCU_M571_055.mp4