[00:00:32.760] 
[music]

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For the American Negro,
the 1960s have been years of protest

[00:00:37.800] 
with marches and demonstrations
all across the land.

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Where there was public
evidence of inequality,

[00:00:47.000] 
there was protest.

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The tactic was nonviolence.

[00:00:54.120] 
Early on in North Carolina,

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a handful of students sitting
in at Greensboro and Durham lunch counters

[00:00:59.920] 
bore witness
for the complaints of Negroes.

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North Carolina's governor has acknowledged
that the voice of this minority,

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one fourth of the people of the state,
should be clearly heard.

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But he added, if the street is a noisy
stage for airing grievances,

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final persuasion must come
in the human heart and mind.

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The governor challenged Negro
students to turn physical action

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into a genuine dialogue
with the whole community.

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One result, a four part minority report

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on film and television, sets forth
the aspirations of young Negroes today.

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On this program,

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students and faculty from
North Carolina College in Durham

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tell how they divided four historic years
between their studies and demonstrations.

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I think the reason that I have,
that I have participated in the demonstration

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stems somewhat from my home training.

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For ever since I've been a small child,
my parents have taught me to stand up

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for what I believed in and for the
principles in which I believed.

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Our demonstrations, to me, are a last resort.

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I have demonstrated in other ways before,
even through the courts.

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And I feel that by moving to the streets
we, as Negroes, are trying to awaken

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the consciences of
White Americans to the injustices

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to which we have been
subjected for so many years.

[00:02:37.320] 
I felt that my
taking part in the demonstration

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would

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bring about, in reality,
all of those things that we feel

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every American is entitled to.

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I felt that Negroes, as Americans,
Negroes as people whose ancestors

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particularly in the South, have made
cotton king with unpaid for labor,

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I felt that only by demonstrating could I

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see these things realized. 

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Growing up in a
ghetto in a mid-Atlantic city,

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being born in a segregated hospital,
going to segregated public schools,

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then running into segregation,
discrimination, [?], 

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and World War II as a teenage soldier.

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My whole past, more or less set me up
in tune for this

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what we might call young people's
revolution or revolt in America.

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I like to feel, though, that,

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I'm young enough to be identified
with the young people's movement.

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As a matter of fact, after we
began to sit-in at a particular place,

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several people started to 

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really brutally beat a young lady who
was a member of the demonstrators.

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Now, prior to going down, I had taken
the non-violent oath and realizing

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the expediency of nonviolence

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I was firmly committed to it.

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But I hope to God that no son of mine ever
has to get out in the streets to watch

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his sweetheart or his sister

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or the young ladies be beaten in the
process of trying to make a realization

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the rights that are guaranteed to all
Americans under the Constitution.

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There have been a great number
of indignities that I have suffered and

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 now I speak of physical harm.

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I've been spat upon and kicked
and stomped in the stomach.

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Two guards in an
Atlanta prison tried to rape me.

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This sort of thing has happened to me,

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but I think that

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even the physical violence does not hurt
me as much as to see my brother

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suffer the subtle indignities that you
really can't put your finger on.

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And as we walked up to the threshold,

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of the door of this restaurant,

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the manager was standing
there to greet us.

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And he

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intensified his greetings with a double
barrel shotgun in his hand.

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And he stood there and he said,

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"If either one of you damn niggas
crosses that threshold

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I'll blow your damn brains out."

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This was very devastating
psychologically and emotionally.

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And he was standing there in such a frenzy
that I thought maybe he would blow our

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brains out whether we crossed
the threshold or not.

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And fortunately he didn't.

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Well there are many forces which
act to trigger violence,

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but one of the main ones I find

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is the gathering of Whites

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across from demonstrations, especially

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where there are massive demonstrations and
and occasionally there are

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just as greater number of Whites across the
street and the police are in the middle

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usually with their
back to the Whites instead of

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paying attention to what
the Whites are doing.

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And the Whites are, in many instances,

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acting to provoke the Negro
demonstrators into active violence.

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White policemen are trained
to counteract violence.

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They do not know how to counteract
this nonviolent technique.

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And demonstrations I've been involved in
they have been completely baffled as to what to do.

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In incidents that
are extremely provoking,

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that would provoke violence on my part,

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I think stand out in my mind most of all,
because I know that by becoming violent,

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I would certainly destroy the principle
for which I am demonstrating.

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We were picketing

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 and this girl friend of mine

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was walking behind me

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 and about eight hoodlums came up

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and harassed us and insulted us,
as they usually do.

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But three of the fellows
decided that they were going to

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 disrobe this young lady

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and they proceeded to do so
right there on the streets.

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This was one time when I questioned
the value of nonviolence.

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This is one time when I
almost became violent.

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And I think this is the
kind of thing that really tests

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an individual's commitment
to the nonviolence philosophy.

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Well, when the demonstrations first began

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I called home to notify my parents
that I was going to participate.

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I am from the North and they were
rather against me participating.

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At, well rather in New York,
you look at television

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and this is what you see as far
as demonstrations are concerned:

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you see

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people being kicked or stomped

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by the police, or you see a fellow
brethren being drug down the street,

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or a dog chasing
him or something of this sort.

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And they felt that this
physical harm could come to me.

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My father felt that if he was here with me,

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that he could in some way protect me
against this physical harm.

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And because I have grown up with Whites

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and gone to integrated schools,
my mother felt that my outlook towards life,

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or rather towards Whites, would
change because of these demonstrations.

[00:09:13.920] 
My parents are very interested in my
participating in demonstrations.

[00:09:20.040] 
They have always taught us to stand up
for what we believe and our convictions.

[00:09:25.560] 
And when I first started demonstrating,
well, they had a positive attitude

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about this because they knew
this was what I wanted to do

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and I had to do.

[00:09:36.640] 
They're behind me one hundred percent
and they feel that it is necessary for me

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to go to jail and to sacrifice
in any way possible

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because I've explained
to them that each time

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I undergo some type of indignity,
or sacrifice more, I become

[00:09:57.760] 
more committed and rededicated
to the principles upon which I stand.

[00:10:04.320] 
As an American citizen, as one who put
on a uniform quite some time ago to

[00:10:10.640] 
defend the American way of life, as one who
would have readily given his life to

[00:10:16.840] 
have kept the American system going,

[00:10:19.920] 
I think it's very despairing to have
to participate in demonstrations

[00:10:24.360] 
to get that which is really actually
and rightfully ours.

[00:10:29.520] 
I don't think the student
should lose class time.

[00:10:32.600] 
There are some who would object to this.

[00:10:34.800] 
I think that my first responsibility is
to prepare myself to step in to these new

[00:10:39.880] 
opportunities that inevitably will come
as segregation is completely broken down.

[00:10:45.600] 
And I think my basic
responsibility is to become

[00:10:49.040] 
totally prepared
to compete with any American

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for the type of position that I want,
the type of job that I'd like to hold,

[00:10:58.960] 
the part that I am to play in society.

[00:11:00.720] 
And I think that the only way I can do this

[00:11:03.240] 
is to study hard, to be diligent in
my study, and to prepare myself

[00:11:09.000] 
to take advantage
of the benefits of democracy.

[00:11:14.600] 
I believe that each person
plays a part in some way.

[00:11:18.920] 
Some people do not choose to

[00:11:21.240] 
overtly demonstrate by going out
in the streets, where at the same time they

[00:11:25.640] 
could possibly do typing
or answering the phone.

[00:11:29.840] 
Some people

[00:11:31.600] 
 who are in college now, as I am,

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and who do not demonstrate

[00:11:38.440] 
perhaps have a reason.

[00:11:39.960] 
For instance, they are studying

[00:11:42.040] 
to go into law, or to gain an
education, so that they can fill the jobs

[00:11:46.480] 
that the other Negroes are
in the streets demonstrating for.

[00:11:50.880] 
Freedom and equality

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in every aspect of American
life is something I want now.

[00:11:58.040] 
And I felt that

[00:12:00.800] 
after the trials and tribulations were over,

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and after I had given my time
in the demonstrations,

[00:12:07.200] 
which were foremost, I used all of my
what you call leisure time, for studies.

[00:12:11.943] 
The

[00:12:15.600] 
 faculty member

[00:12:17.520] 
in a Negro college, in the
Southern Negro college, where they are

[00:12:20.760] 
these Negro colleges exist,

[00:12:23.960] 
are, for the most part, much older than the

[00:12:29.520] 
 generation that I belong to.

[00:12:32.200] 
And they may have deceived themselves

[00:12:34.720] 
into believing that they have
found a niche that was safe in the,

[00:12:40.920] 
 deep in the bosom of this country.

[00:12:43.520] 
But

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I think now the demonstrations have proven

[00:12:48.080] 
to be perhaps the most effective means
by which the Negro can express

[00:12:54.120] 
the pain, the anguish, the humility,
the ravished character that has

[00:13:01.080] 
sort of hovered over the mass
of Negroes in this country

[00:13:06.200] 
and he may become
more sympathetic in the future.

[00:13:10.160] 
I would have to say that

[00:13:11.880] 
after the demonstrations really got
started, and after it was dramatized

[00:13:17.640] 
that the Negro could
make gains only when he

[00:13:20.840] 
went to the streets after all
other efforts had failed.

[00:13:24.840] 
I think this brought to
them the moment of truth,

[00:13:28.240] 
they realized that the philosophy of "wait
until there is a change in the hearts

[00:13:33.200] 
and minds of men" was not really as
effective at as many people said it was.

[00:13:39.920] 
I think we drove home to them the point
that demonstrations do produce tangible results

[00:13:46.480] 
that negotiations
don't necessarily produce.

[00:13:49.840] 
And I think that many of those who do not

[00:13:53.760] 
actively demonstrate with us
or who express openly

[00:13:59.600] 
a sympathy with us,

[00:14:00.880] 
I think they do sympathize with us.

[00:14:03.120] 
Demonstrations, as we think of them,

[00:14:06.880] 
are not the only way in which we
can achieve equal rights,

[00:14:10.960] 
but along with demonstrations and working
through the courts, negotiations, and other

[00:14:16.560] 
forms of protest, the Negro
will gain equal rights.

[00:14:19.840] 
We know for a fact that 

[00:14:22.480] 
when the founding fathers found this
country, they held certain truth be

[00:14:25.840] 
self-evident that all
men were created equal,

[00:14:28.440] 
however, we find that the Negro
apparently was not included.

[00:14:33.760] 
We are aware of the fact that the Civil
War was fought more than a hundred years ago.

[00:14:38.160] 
We are aware of the fact that citizenship
and all of the things that are supposed

[00:14:42.720] 
to accompany citizenship
were granted to the Negro,

[00:14:46.080] 
theoretically, that is, at that particular time.

[00:14:48.920] 
But yet we are aware of the fact that

[00:14:50.720] 
a hundred years have elapsed
and there is still a great difference

[00:14:56.760] 
in what the American people say
to the developing nations all over the world,

[00:15:02.800] 
what the American Constitution says,

[00:15:06.160] 
and what the American Negro
is actually able to realize.

[00:15:10.600] 
But even the Negro who is
considered the black bourgeoisie

[00:15:15.400] 
wants more than
just to be able to own a home,

[00:15:19.200] 
but to be able to own a home in any section,

[00:15:21.800] 
and to own property that he wants
in any section of the town, to be able to

[00:15:28.160] 
have the right to the buck and to spend

[00:15:30.280] 
that money where he wants to, and to pursue
happiness in any way that he chooses.

[00:15:37.440] 
Of course, there are
specific freedoms, I think,

[00:15:41.200] 
namely the right to the ballot,
which is fundamental to our way of life,

[00:15:48.360] 
and also the right to become a part
of the economic mainstream of America.

[00:15:55.320] 
You see where you deny to a major
segment of your population,

[00:16:02.360] 
 even though that segment is a minority,

[00:16:06.240] 
you are really defeating

[00:16:08.920] 
one of the basic purposes

[00:16:11.560] 
of the American way of life.

[00:16:13.800] 
Our job was to help organize the community
and prepare the students, or whoever was

[00:16:19.480] 
to demonstrate,
by having nonviolent workshops,

[00:16:24.200] 
by teaching them and exposing them to the
doctrine of nonviolence,

[00:16:30.080] 
to giving them

[00:16:33.040] 
a sense of racial pride,
by telling them of our great history—

[00:16:37.600] 
from St. Augustine and the four
Black Latin fathers on down—

[00:16:42.080] 
and to really plan strategy and techniques

[00:16:46.120] 
in demonstrations
to negotiate, first of all,

[00:16:52.000] 
in an attempt to
prevent demonstrations if possible.

[00:16:57.760] 
A White man recognizes the Negro is human

[00:17:02.040] 
 but is compelled by ulterior motives

[00:17:07.800] 
 to lie to himself and to others

[00:17:10.880] 
and to say

[00:17:12.960] 
 that the Negro

[00:17:16.040] 
 is basically not human.

[00:17:18.440] 
Now, he may not say this
in these words exactly,

[00:17:21.080] 
but his actions will say this for him.

[00:17:24.720] 
You cannot, in one phrase,

[00:17:27.040] 
say that the American way of life
is equality for all people

[00:17:33.040] 
and then say the Negro must stay back.

[00:17:36.560] 
This is a basic inconsistency.

[00:17:38.840] 
I feel that the White liberal has helped

[00:17:43.160] 
when he has made a stand and stuck
to his conviction, whether it be

[00:17:49.760] 
writing newspaper articles, or letters

[00:17:51.960] 
to the editors, or getting out
on the streets and really demonstrating.

[00:17:56.400] 
But White or Negro who is for the movement
and only pays lip service,

[00:18:05.720] 
in my estimation.

[00:18:09.120] 
Well, I think that the Whites
who participate in demonstrations

[00:18:13.640] 
have really analyzed the situation
and have come to a conclusion that what

[00:18:19.240] 
segregation stands for is wrong
and that they must take the stand.

[00:18:25.240] 
And I am, I feel very proud of these people

[00:18:28.640] 
because they suffer more indignities on picket
lines and in demonstrations than Negroes, 

[00:18:35.360] 
because their fellow, their fellow Whites,

[00:18:40.200] 
those segregationists,
are against them more than they are us

[00:18:45.000] 
in that they really have more name
callers and things than we have.

[00:18:51.640] 
A lot of White people don't
realize that the Negro is human.

[00:18:55.920] 
And I have found it difficult
to understand them,

[00:19:01.200] 
but the more I get into it, I realize

[00:19:04.280] 
that some segregationists believe as
strongly as I do that they are right

[00:19:10.440] 
and this is the only way—
separation of the races.

[00:19:14.000] 
I think he wants an equal right himself.
I think he does not

[00:19:18.600] 
want any special
privileges, as some would suggest.

[00:19:22.160] 
I think he merely wants the right

[00:19:25.120] 
to decide for himself,

[00:19:27.400] 
the right to determine for himself
rather than have someone impose on him

[00:19:34.760] 
the position that he is
to play in American society.

[00:19:39.800] 
It is impossible for any Negro to feel that

[00:19:44.560] 
segregation will only be in the South
as long as his skin remains black.

[00:19:50.800] 
However,

[00:19:53.040] 
in the North, it's more or less

[00:19:56.000] 
subtle, you know, quiet and 
oh, oh, so five hundred.

[00:19:57.280] 
Oh, oh, so five hundred?

[00:20:03.280] 
Well, high class.

[00:20:04.360] 
They just won't out and out say

[00:20:06.960] 
you're not wanted here.

[00:20:08.520] 
You can come into these places.

[00:20:11.200] 
They will take their time about
serving you in some places however.

[00:20:15.760] 
I think legislation
is a part of what can be done.

[00:20:19.720] 
I have no doubt that legislation
can not solve the inequality.

[00:20:24.640] 
It cannot

[00:20:26.800] 
carry to America the idea
that the Negro wants freedom

[00:20:31.520] 
but I think it's a significant step
in that direction.

[00:20:35.280] 
The old Negro had a
tremendous economical problem.

[00:20:40.760] 
The young Negro had to work,

[00:20:42.680] 
whereas today many young Negroes
are in school, they have much more time,

[00:20:47.400] 
they've been educated
much more as to what

[00:20:50.480] 
the evils are that exist
in American society today,

[00:20:54.160] 
and they have many
channels which are open to them

[00:20:56.800] 
that we're not open to the former Negro.

[00:20:59.720] 
Of course, as we know
from the history of the Negro

[00:21:03.640] 
when he first came to America
as a slave, he protested.

[00:21:09.160] 
There were several outstanding
leaders like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth,

[00:21:14.360] 
a whole list of them.

[00:21:16.240] 
But I think that the Negro today

[00:21:19.760] 
has assumed a new militancy and he is daring
because he has an opportunity to dare

[00:21:29.480] 
much of which his predecessor did not have.

[00:21:32.960] 
America and the democratic ideal are

[00:21:40.000] 
saying that

[00:21:41.800] 
all men are free, they all are
entitled to the rights of democracy,

[00:21:48.760] 
that a man is born
with certain inherent rights.

[00:21:53.040] 
However, no one can deny that Negroes
have been denied these inherent rights

[00:21:59.880] 
and I think this is the part
of democracy that is hypocritical.

[00:22:04.160] 
And I think what the White man is going
to have to do is stop being so arrogant

[00:22:09.160] 
and stop being so proud and recognize
the fact that we are all human beings.

[00:22:14.560] 
We're going to have to get this
universal humanity concept.

[00:22:18.520] 
I think it affects
the psychology of a Negro.

[00:22:21.920] 
It invariably breeds in him
an inferiority, a feeling of inferiority.

[00:22:29.560] 
And I think it's harmful not only

[00:22:31.440] 
to the Negro, but it's harmful
to America as a whole

[00:22:35.520] 
and I think this is a major
fault of discrimination.

[00:22:41.480] 
The Negro, now I feel, basically believes that the
principles of the American Constitution

[00:22:48.720] 
 can be achieved

[00:22:51.520] 
 and that America can do it.

[00:22:54.960] 
But if America should fail to do this

[00:22:59.920] 
then I think that many Negroes
will resort to violent means.

[00:23:04.280] 
I think basically
the demonstrations have been led

[00:23:07.520] 
by Americans who

[00:23:09.640] 
 feel that it's time for America to wake up

[00:23:13.120] 
and begin to live its ideal,
the ideal of democracy,

[00:23:16.920] 
the ideal of equality, the ideal
of the inherent goodness of human beings.

[00:23:22.720] 
I think the demonstrators
realized that, first of all,

[00:23:27.360] 
America must live up to its
ideal in facing other nations.

[00:23:32.240] 
This Negro movement
has been called a revolution.

[00:23:36.720] 
Usually in revolutions there

[00:23:39.880] 
is a move to overthrow
that which actually exists.

[00:23:43.840] 
Well, this movement is to overthrow

[00:23:45.480] 
something, but it is not
the political structure of America.

[00:23:50.440] 
I think that Negroes are demonstrating

[00:23:52.920] 
for America rather than
demonstrating against America.

[00:23:56.640] 
And I think that in many instances,

[00:24:00.040] 
those who do demonstrate
are seeking to take over

[00:24:05.000] 
 the reins of leadership

[00:24:06.560] 
while this is not the case
with the Negro revolution in America,

[00:24:09.680] 
they are only seeking
to gain their rightful part

[00:24:12.960] 
in the leadership rather than
to take it over all for themselves.

[00:24:17.320] 
Is it really a man's due that he be denied

[00:24:22.040] 
the rights that are his inherently?

[00:24:25.840] 
From the very time that he is born,
until the time that he dies.

[00:24:30.680] 
From the time that he is born

[00:24:32.200] 
in a segregated hospital until he
is buried in a segregated cemetery,

[00:24:37.520] 
and all in between
is nothing but a pattern of segregation.

[00:24:42.480] 
I think the Negro really wants
the right not to be

[00:24:47.400] 
 the invisible man.

[00:24:49.720] 
Much of the leadership has
been provided by students.

[00:24:53.400] 
There is a tendency on the part of many
of the older generation

[00:24:58.640] 
 to advocate a rather go-slow policy.

[00:25:02.800] 
But I think that

[00:25:05.080] 
 now after demonstrations have

[00:25:08.440] 
been going on for quite some time,

[00:25:10.360] 
that many of those who have originally
advocated this go slow policy are being

[00:25:15.480] 
won over to the new militancy on
the part of the Negro student movement.

[00:25:20.280] 
And I think that more and more
this will be the case until eventually

[00:25:25.080] 
most, if not all, will realize
that this freedom must come,

[00:25:29.600] 
it must come now and that you can't
give a man his freedom too soon.

[00:25:33.360] 
Well, here in North Carolina,
the North Carolina Fund

[00:25:36.960] 
has said on numerous occasions that it
would welcome suggestions

[00:25:41.200] 
as to means it could be employed
to alleviate poverty in the state.

[00:25:48.360] 
I think that the main
thing that should be done

[00:25:52.480] 
is to enfranchise, across
the board, the Negro,

[00:25:58.080] 
to make him a part of the state
in the truest sense of the word.

[00:26:03.360] 
You cannot say in other words,
you want to alleviate poverty

[00:26:06.960] 
and deny to a large segment
of the public the right to help itself.

[00:26:13.800] 
Each arrest and each conviction gives
me a sort of different feeling.

[00:26:19.840] 
I remember

[00:26:21.600] 
when only two of us were
jailed in Durham, North Carolina.

[00:26:27.000] 
Only two?
Only two.

[00:26:27.200] 
And

[00:26:28.600] 
 that night

[00:26:30.440] 
we were in a cell with a bunch of drunks
and loud people and it was filthy.

[00:26:36.720] 
And yet somehow
with all that noise and all the filth

[00:26:44.000] 
I think I—it was thought of a sanctuary,
you know, a place where I felt that I had

[00:26:51.760] 
almost achieved freedom,
a sort of peace of mind.

[00:26:56.600] 
And I think that for the first time,
I believed in God.

[00:27:00.600] 
[music]