In this WSB newsfilm clip, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy, and Albany Movement president Dr. William G. Anderson speak at a press conference on July 12, 1962 upon their release from jail.

Both King and Abernathy were released from serving a forty-five-day jail sentence when an unknown person purportedly paid their fines. King and Abernathy had been arrested in Albany, Georgia during a march in December 1961, and decided to serve time rather than pay a fine if they were found guilty. Albany city officials, aware of the media attention King received while in jail, arranged a plan and released the two leaders saying a "well-dressed Negro" had paid their fines. Although released from jail, Abernathy affirms that he and King will stay in Albany to continue working with the Albany Movement as private, concerned citizens interested in settlement and discussion of the dismissal of charges against seven hundred Albany citizens who had also been arrested. Anderson says that the Albany Movement is open to negotiations with the city of Albany. Behind King, Abernathy, and Anderson, Wyatt Walker, Executive Secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Slater King, vice-president for the Albany Movement, are seen. City leaders repeatedly refused to negotiate while demonstrations persisted, but during the press conference, King asserts that the movement will not be intimidated into inaction or retreat. The concerns of the Albany Movement, according to King, will be resolved when the city of Albany accepts integration as the law of the land. Accepting the "Albany Manifesto" with its five proposals of the Albany Movement regarding the desegregation of parks, train and bus stations, and release of citizens arrested in the protests would be a temporary solution that would clear the way for discussion. King was, in part, upset because his own jail release had been accelerated by city officials (who paid his bail) in an attempt to minimize his publicity; he had been counting on serving the jail time to offset the criticism of other activists who claimed he was unwilling to suffer the discomforts that he encouraged others to endure for the movement. The clip ends with King speaking at a mass meeting held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

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 8 min.): black-and-white, sound ; 16 mm.

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of a press conference where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy, and Albany Movement president Dr. William G. Anderson speak after King and Abernathy were mysteriously released from jail in Albany, Georgia, 1962 July 12, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 0156, 7:36/15:57, 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.