WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Description

In this WSB newsfilm clip from Birmingham, Alabama on May 23, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks to reporters following the federal court order reinstating 1100 students suspended from Birmingham schools for civil rights demonstrations.King asserts that the Birmingham Board of Education's act of suspending or expelling students arrested in civil rights demonstrations is "an undemocratic and unconstitutional act." He cites that the decision by federal judge Elbert P. Tuttle of the fifth circuit court of appeals to readmit the students as a confirmation of the "justice and morality of this movement."While the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) led civil rights efforts in Birmingham for several years, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began assisting with concentrated actions against segregation on April 3, 1963. During the first weeks of May, over one thousand student demonstrators, some as young as six-years-old, participated in mass marches labeled the Children's Crusade and were arrested. On May 20 the Birmingham Board of Education ordered that arrested students sixteen-years-old and under be suspended from school and those over sixteen be expelled. Civil rights lawyers appealed the decision and judge Tuttle's federal restraining order on May 22 ordered the school board to readmit the students.Title supplied by cataloger.IMLS Grant, 2008.Digibeta Center Cut (4 x 3) downconvert from HDD5 1080/23.98PsF film transfer.

Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia