VCU Libraries launches digital collection of Richmond Civil Rights-era films
Still images from reels (left to right, top to bottom): A 1965 voting rights march; an anti- and pro-Vietnam War protest, 1967; a 1966 American Nazi Rally; the previous Vietnam War protest; and footage from the trial of Jamil Al-Amin, 1968.
A new digital collection offers a rare window into Richmond’s civil rights era and the individuals who helped shape it in the early 1960s and 1970s.
This significant historical collection of police surveillance footage includes local meetings of the Black Panther Party, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign of 1968, marches and memorial activities following MLK’s assassination, anti-Vietnam War protests, American Nazi Party rallies, Ku Klux Klan parades, and marches against school desegregation busing. Films also show student protests from Richmond Professional Institute (RPI), Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Virginia Union University (VUU), and Virginia State College (now Virginia State University). Some films feature activities in Virginia locales outside of Richmond and Washington, D.C.
The films help bring these pivotal public events to life. “Often, much of the protest footage from the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War era is in black and white, which can make some of these events feel distant from our current reality. Having these moving images of individuals making their voices heard in full color reminds us that these historical movements were not really that long ago,” says Digital Initiatives Librarian Irina Rogova.
During the turbulent years of the 1960s and 1970s, the Richmond Police Department surveilled groups, people and events they determined to be subversive, counter-cultural or threatening. Most of the films were taken at public events, with officers filming from the street-level sidelines or even embedded in the event. While it appears the department was primarily focused on the Civil Rights, Black Power, Women’s Rights, and Anti-War movements, they also surveilled those involved with the White Power and anti-integration movements.
The collection was acquired in 2017, but the films are only now available for researchers because intense restoration was needed. The original film reels were deteriorating and viewing them could have caused more damage. Last year, VCU Libraries received a $24,585.00 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to support the preservation of the Films of Richmond Police Department (RPD) Surveillance Records (1961-1973). The award was part of CLIR’s “Recordings at Risk” program, which is made possible by funding from the Mellon Foundation. Details about the project grant.
“Thanks to the Recordings at Risk grant, we are now able to make this footage widely accessible to all,” said Head of Special Collections and Archives Chrystal Carpenter. “By preserving and sharing this material, we aim to foster meaningful scholarship, community dialogue and intergenerational reflection on the city’s legacy of activism.”
Today, 112 films are available online via Scholars Compass. Additional films are available by request in Special Collections and Archives. Audio recordings, discovered during the digitization process, will be added to the collection in the fall. A finding aid for the collection, which includes information on films not posted online, is also available.
Categories civil rights, Digital collections, Films and Videos, Special Collections and Archives