Spring Break
Andrew Young: Civil rights have come a long way
Film says students still in the minority
TIFFANY STEVENS
Issue date: 4/1/09 Section: News
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Andrew Young, a lifetime civil rights activist and friend of Martin Luther King, hosted a screening of "How We Got Over," a documentary focusing on desegregation of schools in the 1950s and 1960s.
"It's really exciting for me to be here … at one of the most exciting points of the planet," Young said to students and faculty attending the screening.
"And I'm sure it's exciting for you to see how your University has been part of the progress and the problem, and how you have overcome."
"How We Got Over," exhibits news reels and coverage of the American civil rights movements that have not been seen since the footage originally aired during the struggle.
All of the footage in the documentary is part of the University's Civil Rights Digital Library, an online compilation of information and documents about the civil rights movement.
The library is sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Young said much of the footage was donated by WSB-TV, an Atlanta-based television station.
He said WSB donated the reels after canister footage - an outdated recording device - fell into disuse and storage became a problem.
The news reels in the collection reveal the civil rights movement not only from the perspective of important activists, but also from grass roots movements begun in rural areas throughout the United States.
Barbara McCaskill, an associate professor in the English department who worked with the Civil Rights Digital Library, said in the documentary that the University's project was important in helping students understand the movement and its influence on today's world.
"I was concerned about how little my first and second-year students knew about the civil rights movement," McCaskill said.
The documentary focused in part on the integration of the University.
Historical information included figures who have had University buildings named after them, such as Richard B. Russell, who attempted to reinforce segregation laws in Congress, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes, the first African American students to attend the University.
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