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Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
Poor People's Campaign June 1968
Date Created
1968-05-18
Reel Format
16mm
Reel Description
This reel contains footage of the Poor People's Campaign Caravan likely driving from Norfolk to Richmond, as well as the march gathering in a parking lot. Most are wearing day clothes, some are dressed in religious wear, and many holding signs. This appears to be a group of racially diverse participants
Timestamp Description
00:00:14 Footage begins. Footage of the road, likely a highway, taken from the backseat of a car driving in the right hand lane. Trees, other cars, and homes can be seen.
00:00:23 A road sign for US Route 58 East is visible on the right hand side of the road as the car stops behind what is likely the southern caravan of the Poor People's Campaign.
00:00:25 The car drives in the left lane alongside the caravan, which consists of several cars and buses.
00:00:30 Footage of the car driving in the left lane once again, without the caravan in site. Camera zooms in on the car in front of it.
00:00:38 On the left, a billboard for Chesapeake Auto Supply is visible.
00:00:42 The car drives in the right lane alongside the caravan, which appears to be stopped in the emergency lane/shoulder. The car films the buses and cars in the caravan while driving by.
00:00:58 Still filming the caravan while driving by, a group of approximately ten individuals are visible standing alongside the cars. Somewhere police uniforms.
00:01:00 The car the individual filming is in appears to have pulled over into the emergency lane in front of the caravan and is filming a crowd of individuals standing next to the vehicles. A police motorcycle is also visible.
00:01:09 Filmed from in front of the caravan, the caravan drives down the highway with two police motorcycles at the front. The footage is shaky. Multiple buses drive past the camera.
00:01:39 The car that is being filmed from is back on the road, driving in the left lane. To the right of the road, a road sign is visible: "Route 264, Traffic Use Left Lane". There are multiple cuts focused on different vehicles, though the footage remains shaky.
00:02:06 Footage of a parking lot, with a General Tire Service storefront and cars visible.
00:02:09 Dark footage of cars in a parking lot, the camera pans left to right. Individuals are visible outside of the cars.
00:02:30 Dark footage pans past a building with a marquee, individuals visible standing and walking around.
00:02:33 Zoomed in panning footage of individuals walking outdoors in front of a building.
00:02:46 Footage of several police officers in uniform in the same crowd. The camera pans back left to right.
00:02:51 Zoomed in footage of two dozen suitcases, a cardboard box, and other bags on the sidewalk.
00:02:54 Footage of police officers, one holds a baton behind their back. Camera pans left to a marching band wearing black and gold uniforms, then pans back right.
00:03:04 Zoomed in footage of several individuals standing outside of and in a doorway, one individual leans against the left side of the doorframe.
00:03:09 Camera zooms in on an individual wearing a blue jacket with "Marshal" printed on the sleeve. They sit on a suitcase.
00:03:10 Footage of an individual in a "Marshal" jacket speaking with other individuals.
00:03:14 Footage of a horse-drawn cart with several individuals sitting in it, and others standing around it. A sign on the cart reads "Poor People's Plight".
00:03:16 Another angle of the horse-drawn cart with a large white building in the background. Through various cuts, more individuals stand around the cart. A car sits behind the cart.
00:03:22 Zoomed in footage of a car's license plate.
00:03:26 Footage of the horse-drawn cart.
00:03:39 Zoomed out footage of the horse-drawn cart and individuals standing and walking in the parking lot.
00:03:44 The crowd begins to walk from the left to right of frame, with the horse-drawn carriage leading the group.
00:03:37 Another angle of the parking lot, the camera continually focuses on an individual carrying a photography camera and wearing a green bandana on their head.
00:03:47 The individual with the green bandana walks away and looks at the camera.
00:03:48 The same individual appears to photograph the individual filming.
00:03:50 Footage of the horse-drawn cart, then a car, then a banner reading: "Norfolk Steering Committee Welcomes Poor People's March, To City Hall Then on to Washington. Several dozen people are seen beginning to march.
00:03:54 Individuals marching in rows of two, some signs read: "On To Resurrection City USA", "End Ghetto Poor, Demand Jobs and Houses". Multiple clips of footage of to various vehicles joining the march.
00:04:04 Footage of individuals marching on foot, many hold signs but they are not discernable. Various cuts to film license plates of vehicles. Signs read "Health Care for the Poor", "Support Our Demands [for?] Jobs", "Vigil at 8pm, [Foreman?] Field!", "On To City Hall", "East Ghent Poor Demand Jobs Houses".
00:04:25 Footage ends.
Event Description
The Poor People's Campaign occurred between May 12 and June 24 1968. Suggested to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by NAACP director Marion Wright, the campaign sought to bring poor and working class people to Washington, D.C. to demand "jobs, unemployment insurance, a fair minimum wage, and education for poor adults and children designed to improve their self-image and self-esteem" from the government. After Dr. King's assassination on April 4, 1968, Ralph Abernathy succeeded King as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and continued plans for the campaign. The first official date of the campaign was May 12, Mother's Day, when Coretta Scott King and thousands of women demonstrated in D.C. The next day, Resurrection City was established on the National Mall. According to a flier from the Civil Rights Movement Archive, a southern caravan to Washington D.C. began in Edwards, Mississippi, on May 5th. It arrived in Richmond on May 18. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on May 19 that the 13-bus, 450-person caravan traveled from Norfolk, with the number growing to 800 people upon arrival in Richmond. At 4PM on May 18, the caravan arrived in an unidentified vacant lot in Southside, where remarks from SCLC officials were given, snacks passed around, and the crowd marched north over the Robert E. Lee Memorial Bridge, surrounded by a large police presence. The march grew, perhaps to around 2,000 people, and went to Presbyterian School of Christian Education, now Union Presbyterian Seminary, on Brook Road in the Northside neighborhood, where dinner was served. Hosea Williams, field director of SCLC, spoke to a remaining 1,000 individuals at 10:55PM. Marchers spent the night at Virginia Union University, Union Theological Seminary, and in private homes. Read more about the Poor People's Campaign via the Stanford University Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute and the National Museum of African American History & Culture.
Runtime
00:04:46
Note
The film reel is labeled "June 1968" but the Poor People's Campaign 1968 Southern Caravan to Washington D.C. arrived in Richmond on Saturday, May 18, 1968. It is believed that is the date this reel is from.
Personal Name Subject
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968; Abernathy, Ralph, 1926-1990; Williams, Hosea, 1926-2000
Corporate Name Subject
Virginia Union University (Richmond, Va.); Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)
Topical Subject
Poor People's Campaign; Anti-poverty movements; Demonstrations; Crowds; Processions; Motorcades; Public welfare; Welfare rights movement; "Civil rights movements; Civil rights movements--United States; Civil rights demonstrations; Civil rights workers; 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
Poor People's Campaign Caravan in Richmond Film Reel #02, 1968 May 18
File Name
VCU_M571_007.mp4