In this silent WSB newsfilm clip from September 10, 1971, members of the National Socialist White People's Party protest forced busing in Savannah, Georgia.

The clip begins with a school bus with a banner taped to the side. The banner reads "Boycott busing!" and "Gas race-mixers!" In the sign, the letter "O" in boycott has a swastika in the middle of it. Later, men in brown shirts carry cases as they walk into the Howard Johnson motel. One man walks upstairs while another stands at the bottom of the staircase. The camera focuses on a red armband with a black swastika in the middle of a white circle. Finally, the camera focuses on a man with a small mustache who speaks to someone off-screen.

In September 1970, United States District judge Alexander J. Lawrence ordered the local Board of Education to implement a school integration plan that paired or clustered forty elementary schools, closed two schools, and left two schools as they were. The schools were scheduled to open Friday, September 3, and Lawrence ordered the schools to open on an integrated basis. Chatham County school officials worked to implement the plan in time for the school opening, using the Friday school opening to make assignments for the implementation on Tuesday, September 7. Parents, upset by the court-ordered integration that disrupted neighborhood schools and forced busing, boycotted the schools for several days and picketed the schools and the school board offices. On September 10, the parents were joined by members of the Arlington, Virginia based National Socialist White People's Party (NSWPP). Police escorted the NSWPP bus to the edge of town to avoid a confrontation with parents. The bus returned to Savannah and left town the following day.

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 2 min.): color, silent ; 16 mm.

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of members of the National Socialist White People's Party protesting forced busing in Savannah, Georgia, 1971 September 10, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1763, 10:09/11:47, 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.