Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968 Search this
Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, American, 1926 - 1990 Search this
Owned by:
D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896 Search this
Medium:
polyester film
Dimensions:
Duration: 22 Minutes
Length (Film): 800 Feet
Type:
sound films
black-and-white films (visual works)
16mm (photographic film size)
Place used:
Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
Date:
ca. 1969
Caption:
This film was a part of the Washington D.C. Public Library's circulating 16mm film collection housed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Library. The collection is particularly noted for the wide variety of African American and African diaspora content.
Description:
A documentary short with the title Martin Luther King Jr.: From Montgomery to Memphis. It consists of a single reel of black-and-white 16mm polyester film with optical sound.
Through archival footage, the documentary provides an overview of Dr. Martin Luther King's contributions to the civil rights movement. In the opening scene, the narrator describes Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger before cutting to archival footage of Dr. King on camera describing the Montgomery bus boycott. Some of the other events depicted include footage of the boycott, including footage of carpools and people walking, as well as commentary on Dr. King's house being bombed because of the boycott; Dr. King's arrest because of his role in the boycott; footage of Dr. King speaking at a victory meeting following the Supreme Court's ruling to desegregate the bus system in Alabama; development of the students non-violent committee; footage of his "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial; footage of nonviolence resistance training; his work in other parts of the USA, such as Albany and Georgia; commentary on his role in the garbage collectors’ strike; footage of the Selma to Montgomery march; Dr. King's work in Northern cities such as New York and Chicago where his activism shifted to housing, employment and poverty in black communities, as well as the resultant white backlash he faced in the North; and commentary on Dr. King denouncing the Vietnam war. The final scenes include footage of Dr. King's last speech, given the night before he was assassinated, as well as footage from his funeral procession.
