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Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
National Priorities Day - Monroe Park + SHW building, April 15 - 1970
Date Created
1970-04-15
Reel Format
16mm
Reel Description
This reel contains footage of a crowd of approximately 100 individuals marching from Monroe Park east on Franklin Street, then arriving at a building at 501 N 9th Street and placing a cardboard coffin at the building's entrance. This was part of the National Priorities Day event held on April 15, 1970. This appears to be a group of racially diverse participants.
Timestamp Description
00:00:15 Footage begins. Footage filmed across Belvidere Street from the corner of Belvidere and Franklin Streets at the corner of Monroe Park. The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is visible in the distance. A uniformed police officer wearing a raincoat and plastic cover on their police hat stands at the corner, along with three individuals waiting to cross the street. A police car drives through the park in the background.
00:00:20 Footage of several dozen marchers walking east on Franklin Street alongside Monroe Park. Many carry signs. Three police trikes and three officers on horseback ride in the street next to the marchers.
00:00:26 Footage of marchers crossing Franklin Street at Belvidere Street. Loretta Johnson is visible wearing all purple. Individuals hold signs which read: "We Pay" with a drawing of what looks like dripping blood, "Feed the Poor", "oxygenate not defoliate", "Piss On [Pentagon?]", "White Black" with "ov" written between the B in Black and e in White to spell "Love", "WRO Prohuman" with an omega symbol, "1967 9,378, 1968 9,414", "Anti-human " Christ", "$201M A Day", "End War Feed Poor", "Hunger Hurts", "Rich Profit", "White Racism", "Yankee Come Home", "End War Taxes", "Defense Dept. Sucks", "Enemy is the Pentagon", "10,000 Miles Away" and "Richmond Welfare Rights On!".
00:01:00 Footage of an individual standing outside 501 N 9th Street, they stick their tongue out at the camera.
00:01:02 Footage of an individual crossing the street towards the building. A street signs reads "Traffic and Police Courts" with an arrow pointing left, and "501 N 9th St".
00:01:06 The marchers from Monroe Park arrive at the building. They gather under the portico of the building.
00:01:39 Six individuals carry what appears to be a coffin made out of cardboard and painted black across the street towards the marchers. A uniformed officer on horseback is visible in the frame.
00:01:42 The coffin carriers place the coffin on the ground in front of the building.
00:01:59 The marchers watch from the sidewalk and portico.
00:02:06 An individual stands in front of the coffin, which has a white cross painted on the lid, and reads from a large sheet of paper while others observe. Loretta Johnson stands in the front of the crowd.
00:02:12 Footage of the crowd walking away from the building, with some individuals carrying the coffin.
00:02:16 Footage cuts to shots of what appears to be an office.
00:02:31 Footage ends.
Event Description
On April 15, 1970, approximately 100 individuals gathered in Monroe Park for an observance of National Priorities Day. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the day was scheduled to coincide "with the deadline for filing federal income tax returns," and "was designed to protest the Vietnam war and military spending and to ask for increased federal funds for welfare and other social purposes". The day started at Monroe Park, where Virginia Commonwealth University Student Government Association president-elect Jim Elam introduced speakers. It was raining and the sound system was not working, according to newspaper reporting. Most of the topics discussed included the Vietnam War. Then individuals marched to the Larrick Student Center at the Medical College of Virginia, for seminars "that were marked by earnest talk of poverty, politics, and welfare". The leaders were Arthur Waskow, a fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, and David Hawk, a coordinator of the National Vietnam Moratorium Committee. Both came from Washington, D.C. and organized National Priorities Day nationally. They left after speaking at Monroe Park, where Loretta Johnson, president of the Richmond Welfare Rights Organization, led the rest of the day. Johnson was also running for City Council. At Larrick, national Welfare Rights Organization organizer Tyrone Chapman spoke to a crowd of approximately 80 individuals. The RTD reported a plainclothes officer was present at the seminars (Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 16, 1940). The event was also covered by the VCU Commonwealth Times in the April 17, 1970 issue. Not included in newspaper coverage, the second half of the reel includes a group of individuals marching to the Police and Traffic Court Building at 501 N 9th Street, labeled as "SHW Building" on the reel. Marchers brought a black coffin and laid it at the building.
Runtime
00:04:14
Corporate Name Subject
Virginia Commonwealth University; National Welfare Rights Organization (U.S.)
Topical Subject
Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements; Anti-war demonstrations; Demonstrations; Crowds; Student movements; Student protesters; Students--Political activity; Signs and signboards; Public welfare; Welfare rights movement; Anti-poverty movements; 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
National Priorities Day Protest in Richmond Film Reel #02, 1970 April 15
File Name
VCU_M571_144.mp4