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Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
Antidraft [sic] protest
Date Created
1970-03-19
Reel Format
16mm
Reel Description
This reel contains footage of the daytime picket at the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station at 11th and Main Streets. Most footage is of the picket, showing individuals walking in a large oval on the sidewalk. Some building workers are seen--potentially security guards and others. The footage is filmed from across the street and above. This appears to be a group of majority white participants.
Timestamp Description
00:00:10 Footage begins. Footage of an unidentified building, shot at a 45 degree angle. The camera was likely rolling while not being operated.
00:00:18 Footage of approximately ten individuals who are a part of the demonstration walking outside of the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station building. Three other individuals in suits are standing on the steps observing them.
00:00:18 Footage taken of the storefronts on the right side of the station building. Approximately twenty demonstrators walking away from the building, left to right in the frame, with other individuals in suits looking on. Demonstrators hold protests signs, some rolled up. A visible sign reads: "Close State Draft Headquarters". A uniformed police officer also passes on horseback.
00:00:34 Footage of the right side corner of the building and alley, with more demonstrators and passersby walking in both directions in the frame. Closer to the sidewalk, an individual with a film camera stands looking on. In the alley entrance, an individual with a photography camera and another in a police or military uniform stands looking on.
00:00:41 Footage of the picket in front of the building. Picketers walk in a large oval on the sidewalk in front of the building. Some hold signs, visible ones read: "Hell No, We Won't Go!", "Northern Virginia Resistance" and "No More Lives For Your Lousy Wars".
00:01:08 Footage of two individuals walking past the Travelers Building towards the picket.
00:01:11 Footage of another group of approximately 15 individuals walking towards the picket and past the Travelers Building, from right to left in the frame. One carries a sign reading "Don't Kill for the Flag, Refuse to Go".
00:01:29 Footage of individuals walking right to left in the frame past the Travelers Building towards the picket. Some hold signs: "Resist Illegitimate Authority", sign with an American flag, a peace symbol, and the words "How Many More" and "Close State Draft Headquarters".
00:01:36 Footage of the picket in front of the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station building, individuals continue to walk in an oval. An individual in a leather trench coat and sunglasses stands near the stairs of the building and looks on.
00:01:45 This individual raises a closed fist salute to one of the picketers, another picketer raises their fist in reply. The camera now appears to be following this particular individual. They are on the steps of the building, still observing the picketers. At one point, the individual gives another raised fist salute to a different picketer. The footage then cuts to this individual walking past a group of individuals in suits watching the picket, including an individual who is likely a police officer who was also filming the protest in other reels, and a another individual who may be a journalist. The individual in the leather coat turns and appears to speak with this group, then the footage jumps to a car driving down the street, with the passenger waving a fist out of the passenger side window.
00:02:02 Footage of the picket. Individuals occasionally notice the camera and look up at it.
00:02:34 Individuals in the picket appear to motion directly to the camera, holding up raised fist salutes, their signs, and pointing. Signs read: "Hi FBI!", "Hell No, We Won't Go!", "Resist Illegitimate Authority" and "No More Lives For Your Lousy Wars".
00:02:46 Footage of five individuals standing in a line on the sidewalk with their arms around one another's shoulders, nearly all hold rolled up protest signs. They look at the camera, the individual second from the right waves, the individuals on the left hold up a raised fist salute.
00:02:55 Footage of three individuals walking from left to right of frame in front of the building, then walk past the individuals with cameras and security standing at the right side alley of the building. They stop and appear to talk to the group. The individual with the film camera salutes them.
00:03:18 The three individuals in the previous clip now stand and speak with the individuals with cameras, the individual in the leather trench coat, and an individual in police or military uniform.
00:03:35 The three individuals walk away from the group they were conversing with, and walk past the Travelers Building, where an individual stands in the doorway and watches them.
00:03:41 Footage of the individual in the leather trench coat in front of the building, they walk right to left in the frame, and an officer on horseback goes left to right in the frame.
00:03:51 Footage ends.
Event Description
On March 19, 1970, a multi-level protest organized by the VCU Radical Student Union consisted of a picket of the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station at 11th and Main Streets, the State Selective Service headquarters at the Federal Office Building on 8th and Marshall Streets, and at Monroe Park. This was part of a nationwide week-long protest organized by the group New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. A group of approximately 25-30 individual picketed the entrance of the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station, and one VCU student was arrested for "breach of the peace" (Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 20, 1970) and/or "failure to move" (Commonwealth Times, March 20, 1970). Around 12PM, some 200 individuals participated in a rally at Monroe Park, with speakers including recorder of the Radical Student Union Fred Shorter, draft counselor Page Morris, the Reverend ProHuman Williams, and Phyllis Conclin. At 12:30PM some 150 students marched to the Federal Building and held a 55-minute sit-in in the south lobby to protest the draft. Four demonstrators met with Virginia State Director of Selective Service Capt. Charles L. Kessler and two federal marshals, the press was not admitted. Students from VCU and Union Theological Seminary were among the participants.
Runtime
00:04:44
Note
The order of the eight reels from this day of protests was determined by the Digital Initiatives Librarian using newspaper reports from the day, as well as other indicators of time in the footage. It may not be accurate to the order the footage was filmed in.
Corporate Name Subject
Virginia Commonwealth University; Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education
Topical Subject
Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Draft resisters; Anti-war demonstrations; Demonstrations; Crowds; United States--Armed Forces--Recruiting, enlistment, etc.; Draft; Draft resisters; Draft registration; Student movements; Student protesters; Students--Political activity; Signs and signboards; Mounted police; Police horses; Animals in police work; 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-Draft Protest in Richmond Film Reel #05, 1970 March 19
File Name
VCU_M571_138.mp4