In this silent WSB newsfilm clip from Athens, Georgia on January 17, 1961, the University of Georgia's first two African American students, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, walk across campus to attend classes. The clip begins with Hamilton Holmes with a bandage on his right eyebrow, followed by three men who may be plain-clothes police officers. Holmes and the men pass between white students who are standing on either side of the doorway to Meigs Hall, the psychology building. Next, Charlayne Hunter walks up a flight of stairs beside Meigs Hall before she too, enters the building. Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes applied for admission to the University of Georgia in 1959, but university officials claimed they were unable to admit the two because of a lack of space. After reapplying for admission several times, lawyers for Hunter and Holmes filed a federal lawsuit. On January 6, 1961, federal judge William A. Bootle ordered the university to admit the students immediately. Hunter and Holmes began attending classes at the university on January 11, 1961, ending over 176 years of segregation at the school.

Title supplied by cataloger.

The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for digital conversion and description of the WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection.

1 clip (about 1 min.): black-and-white, silent ; 16 mm.

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of African American students Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, 1961 January 17, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 0748, 8:59/09:32, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga, as presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.

Forms part of: Civil Rights Digital Library.