In this WSB newsfilm clip from October 31, 1963, civil rights lawyers and residents of Americus, Georgia, enter and exit the federal courthouse where five civil rights workers are charged with the capital offense of violating a Georgia law against "seditious conspiracy." The clip begins with street views of downtown Americus; later, several young white men enter the federal courthouse, among them is Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) worker Zev Aelony (the hatless man wearing black eyeglasses and a white shirt); still later, African Americans exit a car and stand in front of the building. After a break in the clip, several young African American women dressed in skirts and blouses walk into the courthouse; as they exit the building later, one of the young women holds hands with a white man, possibly Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) member John Perdew. Two more white men, one possibly Col. H. L. Lowell of the State Highway Patrol, speak outside of the building. African American lawyers Thomas M. Jackson of Macon, Georgia and Constance B. Motley from the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York, also enter the building. After another pause in the clip, policemen drive a police car down the street while a racially-mixed group exits the building and African American students wait outside. Several lawyers exit the building at once, including Jackson; Motley; C. B. King of Albany, Georgia; and Donald L. Hollowell of Atlanta, Georgia. Three SNCC workers in Americus--Donald Harris, John Perdew, and Ralph Allen--were arrested after an August 8 demonstration when Harris refused to obey an officer's order to disperse the crowd. City officials charged the men with insurrection, unlawful assembly, and rioting. Later, Zev Aelony, a field worker with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was also charged with insurrection. Because insurrection is a capital offense, the four were held in police custody without bail for three months. Sumter County Movement member Thomas McDaniel was also held during that time for being unable to make the $1000 bond. Former Atlanta attorney Morris B. Abram, Jr. of New York led a lawsuit to release the five men, and a fourteen-year-old girl who had been held in solitary confinement under different charges. A three-judge-panel federal court heard the case, and on October 31, 1963, declared the Georgia insurrection law unconstitutional and ordered the release of all six prisoners.

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 3 min.): black-and-white, silent ; 16 mm.

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of lawyers for civil rights workers charged with the capital offense of insurrection, police, and trial bystanders in Americus, Georgia, 1963 October 31, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1102, 49:34/53:02, 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.