In this silent WSB newsfilm clip from January and February, 1962, sparsely populated Cities Transit buses travel around Albany, Georgia; at the state capitol building in Atlanta, students protest a Senate bill prohibiting picketing on state property.

The clip begins with Cities Transit buses in Albany, seen first on a major road and then in a residential area; the buses have very few passengers. Downtown, a bus traveling the Pine Street Stadium route stops, but no passengers board or exit the bus. The Albany Movement initiated a bus boycott movement after the January 12, 1962 arrest of Albany State College student Ola Mae Quarterman, called by some the "Rosa Parks of Albany." The boycott's success brought Albany bus services to a halt, beginning with short interruptions in February 1962, and followed by a much longer cessation of service that spanned from March 6, 1962 through 1964.

Next, a group of approximately seventy students, primarily African Americans, march to the state capitol building in Atlanta on Monday, February 12, 1962 to protest Senate bill 278, which would prohibit picketing on state property. The students approach the capitol from Hunter Street (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive), where they march past what is probably Silver Leaf Baptist Church, and cross an overpass. A picket sign carried by one of the students reads: "Senate bill 278 is unconstitutional. C.O.A.F.H.R." The Committee on Appeal for Human Rights (COAFHR), created by students at the Atlanta University Center in 1960, directed several anti-segregation protests in Atlanta. In the clip, about forty Atlanta policemen and a similar number of Georgia state troopers meet the marchers. Near the capitol, Lieutenant Colonel R. H. Burson, deputy director of the state patrol, speaks to state troopers. The police, led by Atlanta police captain J. L. Moseley, direct traffic and divert the students to the west sidewalk along Washington Street, near the Central Presbyterian Church. Charles Black, a Morehouse College student and civil rights activist, talks to Atlanta police. Students are also seen inside the capitol where they appear to be singing as they walk. From the mezzanine balcony, white onlookers observe the students, who are followed by state troopers; outside, white students, possibly from nearby Georgia State University, observe the proceedings. Existing newspaper reports describe the demonstrators as having approached the capitol building from Hunter Street, where they then crossed to the sidewalk on the west side of Washington Street, rounded the corner to Mitchell Street, and then walked up Capitol Street back to Hunter Street. About one-third of the students entered the capitol building without their signs, and sat in the segregated section of the House gallery for a few moments before the session adjourned. Members of the House Committee on the State of the Republic who heard students singing "We Shall Overcome," approved the Senate bill without comment. Students returned to the capitol Tuesday, February 13; eleven were arrested. The House passed the Senate's anti-picketing bill February 15, and on February 17, the bill was sent to Governor Ernest Vandiver.

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

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of a bus boycott in Albany, Georgia, and a civil rights demonstration against proposed legislation at the Georgia Capitol Building in Atlanta, Georgia, 1962, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 0929, 39:02/44:40, 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.