Files
Download File (209.7 MB)
Loading...
Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
Dec 17, 1969, at State Capitol, VA State Coll. protest pickets
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 protestors marching around the Virginia State Capitol, as well as a smaller group entering the Capitol grounds and building. Marchers 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. An individual speaks with two others wearing what appear to be Virginia State Capitol police uniforms. The camera zooms in as the civilian puts their head between the two officers and then walks away.
00:00:19 Footage of marchers walking past the wrought iron fence around the grounds, this appears to be the 9th Street side of the Virginia State Capitol. Many individuals wear large orange buttons which read "Survival For VSC". Some wear a white piece of paper under the button which reads "Marshal". Some carry signs which read: "No Matter How Hard You Try You Can't Stop Us Now", "Stop Look Listen VSC Has Something To Say", "WE Shall Not Be Moved! You Dig!" and "Survival for VSC".
00:01:02 Some individuals stand to the right of the marchers with photography cameras, potentially journalists. More signs from protestors: "The Handwriting Is On the Wall! We Will Not Be Moved!", "Take Interest In A Worthy Cause. Support the Virginia State College Concerned Students and Faculty", "We Won't Take 'No' For An Answer", "No Matter How Hard You Try You Can't Stop VSC", "We Won't Let the Board Get Us Down", "VSC Jr. No College?" with the "C" in VSC crossed out, "The Board of Visitors Said Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" and "Next Stop Washington D.C.!" with a drawing of the U.S. Capitol Building.
00:01:44 Footage of individuals walking within the Virginia State Capitol, with what appears to be 9th Street behind them.
00:01:48 A smaller group of marchers walking on the State Capitol grounds. One group leads the marchers, four individuals with their arms linked. Some individuals hold signs: "Please don't do this to use" with a depiction of a building made of construction paper, "Survival for VSC", "Libertate Virginia State!" and "Liberate Virginia State Now! [Illegible word]".
00:02:01 An individual with a film camera walks between the camera and the marchers, then stands on the right side of the frame while filming the marchers. More signs: "Build Us Up, Don't Put Us Down", "Survival for VSC", "Don't Kill Us" with a drawings of flowers and a tombstone with a cross and "VSC" written on it, and "The Board of [Visitors?] [refused us?], Don't You Refuse Us".
00:02:22 Footage of approximately a dozen individuals standing at what appears to be the side door of the Virginia State Capitol building, with a car behind them. The camera pans left to show a line of individuals.
00:02:44 Individuals enter the building. An individual with a film camera on their shoulder is in the crowd.
00:02:51 Footage of the Virginia Washington Monument with pedestrians walking by and cars partially visible parked around it. The camera zooms in on the statue at the top of the monument.
00:03:11 Footage of the fountain on the Virginia State Capitol grounds. The camera zooms in and out. In the distance, marchers can be seen walking outside the capitol fence on Bank Street.
00:03:31 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
00:03:51
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 #05, 1969 December 17
File Name
VCU_M571_086.mp4