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Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
12-17-69, Belvidere + Franklin- VSC students protest
Date Created
1969-12-17
Reel Format
Super 8mm
Reel Description
This reel contains footage of students, faculty, and supporters protesting changes to Virginia State College in Richmond, Virginia. Footage of marchers leaving Monroe Park and walking in pairs east on Franklin Street. They wear winter coats and jackets, buttons, and hold signs. This appears to be a group of majority Black participants.
Timestamp Description
00:00:09 Footage begins. Footage filmed from the corner of Belvidere Street and Franklin Street across from Monroe Park. A crowd of protestors crossing Belvidere Street away from Monroe Park. Footage zoomed in one an individual's sign which reads "No Matter How Hard You Try--You Can't Stop Us Now! V.S.C.C.S.F." The camera pans to record more individuals in the march. Many individuals wear large orange buttons which read "Survival For VSC". Some wear a white piece of paper under the button which reads "Marshal". A uniformed police officer is visible in the intersection to the right of the march. Another sign reads: "One Board of Visitors. VA State does Not Want It. Who Does!".
00:00:51 An individual towards the back of the visible march kicks their leg up, the individual holding their hand laughs.
00:01:11 The individual at the back of this group of marchers holds a sign which reads "The Board of Visitors, [Illegible], Don't Call Us, We'll Call You". Vehicle traffic moves behind them as the rest of the marchers wait for the next pedestrian crossing light. A uniformed police officer is seen waving along vehicle traffic.
00:01:15 The marchers resume crossing the street. Signs read: "Black Trojans, We Come Alive" with a drawing of a raised fist, "We Shall Not Be Moved, [Illegible sentence]" and "Open Up The Door + I'll Get It Myself".
00:02:17 An individual starts clapping and either singing or chanting, others join them. More signs: a drawing of a stop sign which reads "Stop" and "Don't Kill VSC" written underneath, "No Matter How Hard You Try You Can't Stop Us Now", "Survival for VSC", "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "Build Us Up Don't Put Us Down".
00:03:04 The final individuals in this part of the march cross the street as vehicle traffic begins to move behind them. A uniformed police officer is seen waving vehicle traffic on on the Monroe Park side of Belvidere Street.
00:03:14 Footage ends.
Event Description
Around 11AM on Wednesday, December 17, 1969, some 2,200 students and faculty from Virginia State College (VSC) (Virginia State University as of 1979), marched at the Virginia State Capitol in protest of the school's Board of Visitors refusing to meet with student representatives to discuss a proposed merger between VSC's School of Agriculture and Virginia Polytechnic Institute's (now Virginia Tech) agriculture program. VSC is a public historically Black land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia. About 50 individuals were permitted to enter the Capitol grounds, and then gave a press conference. Other remarks were cancelled, but State senator-elect L. Douglas Wilder traveled back to VSC's Petersburg counsel to meet a student assembly. Students traveled from Petersburg to Richmond via 25 chartered buses and an unknown number of private vehicles. The protest lasted about 4 hours. Students were able to speak with staff of Governor-elect Linwood Holton's office, but did not plan to speak with outgoing Governor Mills E. Godwin Jr. The evening after the protest, board rector Elgin M. Lowe Sr. agreed to schedule a meeting in January. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, December 18, 1969).
Runtime
00:03:52
Corporate Name Subject
Virginia State College
Topical Subject
Historically Black colleges and universities; Student protesters; African American student movements; Student movements; Student strikes; Universities and colleges--Administration; 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
Virginia State College (VSC) Student Protest at the Virginia State Capitol Film Reel #03, 1969 December 17
File Name
VCU_M571_084.mp4