Home movie footage of the Selma to Montgomery march
date: label: Date
content: March 21, 1965
name: label: Created by
content: Donna Chalmers, American, born 1940
label: Subject of
content: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
label: Subject of
content: Jim Letherer, American, 1933 - 2001
notes: label: Caption
content: The Selma-to-Montgomery March for voting rights represented the political and emotional peak of the modern civil rights movement. On "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, some 600 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma on U.S. Route 80. They got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away, where state and local lawmen attacked them with Billy clubs and tear gas and drove them back into Selma. Two days later on March 9, Martin Luther King, Jr., led a symbolic march to the bridge. Then civil rights leaders sought court protection for a third, full-scale march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery. Federal District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., weighed the right of mobility against the right to march and ruled in favor of the demonstrators. "The law is clear that the right to petition one's government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups...," said Judge Johnson, "and these rights may be exercised by marching, even along public highways."
label: Caption
content: On Sunday, March 21, under the protection of the Alabama National Guard, which had been federalized to escort the marchers, about 3,200 individuals set out for Montgomery, walking 12 miles a day and sleeping in fields. By the time they reached the capitol on Thursday, March 25, they were 25,000-strong. Less than five months after the last of the three marches, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This home movie documents part of that march along Route 80, with much of the footage displaying the heavy law enforcement presence.
label: Description
content: A home movie with footage of the Sunday, March 21, 1965, march from Selma to Montgomery. There are two copies of it, one on 8mm color acetate film (2011.176.1.1a) and another on DVD (2011.176.1.2a), both of which are silent. An original 50-foot plastic film reel (2011.176.1.1b) and a an original cardboard film box (2011.176.1.1c) accompany the 8mm film, while a DVD case (2011.176.1.2b) accompanies the DVD.
label: Description
content: Filmed by Donna Chalmers and her husband, the home movie opens with footage of an unidentified person riding a snowmobile as well as the cameraperson walking through snow-covered fields. Subsequent footage shows the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. It is shot from the front seat of a moving vehicle and features activities on the road in Montgomery, Alabama. These include footage of marchers walking along the roadside, soldiers preparing for the march, a propaganda billboard stating that Martin Luther King Jr., was a “student of Communism,” and news stations setting up at the state capitol building. Some of the structures captured in the film include the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma and the Alabama State Capitol Building in Montgomery. The final scenes of the film reveal the aftermath of a tornado, capturing fallen trees and damaged homes.
place: label: Place filmed
content: Montgomery, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
label: Place filmed
content: Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: American South
label: Topic
content: Civil Rights
label: Topic
content: Military
label: Topic
content: Politics
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, 1961-1969
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Time-based Media - Moving Images
label: Movement
content: Civil Rights Movement
label: Movement
content: Selma to Montgomery Marches
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2011.176.1
objectType: label: Type
content: silent films
label: Type
content: home movies
label: Type
content: color films (visual works)
label: Type
content: DVDs
label: Type
content: 8mm (photographic film size)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: ©Donna Chalmers
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: (1) acetate film with plastic and cardboard
label: Medium
content: (2) aluminum with polycarbonate and plastic
label: Dimensions
content: Duration (digital file): 3 min., 54 sec.