Martin Luther King Jr speaking in Memphis, TN, April 3, 1968 (night before his assassination): "I just want to do God's will. And he s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land." Memphis police officers conducting investigation along balcony of Lorraine Motel in Memphis on the night of MLK's assassination. Nationwide riots following death of MLK: shaky (but good) panning TLS police squad car driving along city street, night; panning shot crowd passing broken shop windows, night; large fire burning from city bldg, night; firing tear gas while patrolling streets, day. Robert F. Kennedy speaking to crowd in Indianapolis, Indiana, following MLK assassination, Aug 4 1968: "For those of you who are black & are tempted to be filled w/ hatred & distrust..." Widow Coretta Scott King and bereaved King family viewing open casket of Martin Luther King Jr during wake. Funeral procession of MLK through streets of Atlanta, GA, Apr 9, 1968; Robert Kennedy marching in funeral parade, wife Ethel Kennedy walking behind him; Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon marching in funerary parade, basketball star Wilt Chamberlain marching behind them. Mule-drawn funeral cortege.
Chicago, Illinois. MS crumbled wall to store, "Open Sundays," not anymore. MCU sign "Roosevelt & Spaulding No Right Turn." (Chicago, Illinois) crumbled buildings. MS National Guard armed & walking past the devastation, wreckage, some blacks follow. MS remnants burning. MS Army Jeep & Semi truck, track of Army Jeep passing wreckage. MS young black boys throwing stones/remnants of building.
Chicago, Illinois. TLS black people passing fallen building. MS/LA soldier standing guard, others pass by. MS soldiers standing guard along street intersection TLS army truck w/soldiers on regular street. MS/MCU black boys playing baseball. MS Army trucks, jeeps w/ soldiers passing camera. MS/pan "Chicago Temple, First Methodist Church," to Pablo Picasso's street red, rust colored sculpture, statue. (his dog) MS Chicago buildings, flags at half mast. TLS buildings around Washington Street. MS City & American flags.
Chicago, Illinois. MCU Picasso's sculpture. TLS/pan city buildings. MS flags. MCU/pan Wacker/ State street signs, "Chicago Sun-Time building in BG." MS soldiers patrolling under elevated train, near a restaurant. MCU/HA soldiers rifles have bayonets attached, black people pass by them, soldier with gun ready-looks scared, some soldiers black. (Woodlawn neighborhood).
Chicago, Illinois. MS rows of soldiers walking down the street- some are African American soldiers- to maintain order, soldiers look like they are unhappy, young black boy passes by staring intensely into the camera. (no actual riot footage has been seen yet- just post riot damage) MCU/pan sign "Dorchester & 63rd, " young black girls crossing the street, police officers to right. MS urban destruction. MS two black men standing against building. MCU black children. CU black Chicago police officer. MS two police officers & army soldier resting. MCU black police officer gladly talking w/two black women. MCU two police officers standing around, waiting for more rioting. MS police officers marching in column down street w/helmets on, paddy wagon follows behind.
Chicago, Illinois. MS/track down street, police officers keeping civilians, black people moving, prevent congregation, a black neighborhood. MS soldiers standing guard. MCU/pan photo of MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. through window to soldier on guard. MCU sign "Woodlawn: Urban Progress Center." MCU two black men. MCU/pan red movie marquee, "Joan Crawford in "Berserk," soldiers in fatigues.
Chicago, Illinois. CU army soldiers opening food cans. MS group of black people walking towards the camera. (first footage that could be riot related) MS fire trucks & blue police cars move in. TLS black men in hats on balcony, go inside. MS wall w/"Blackstone Prince Killer" spray painted on it.
Chicago, Illinois. TLS army camp. MS men & tents. MS/LA soldiers & jeep. MCU soldiers, rifle bayonet in FG. MS soldiers & camp.
Reel change - seems to be in Washington, DC. MCU street gutters littered. MS men shoveling trash into dumpster, garbage. MCU black man waiting in truck, clean up underway, department of sanitation cleaning up the streets, Safeway grocery store, people stealing groceries, black kid does dance, broken front windows, firemen in store.
Apparently Washington, DC. MS streets cluttered w/mess. MS firemen putting out fire, streets littered. MS police car arrives. CU fireman, tired, exhausted, shakes head, looks sad. MS broken front windows of Safeway store. TLS smoke rising from building. MS/pan American flag, buildings burning. (nice shot). TLS/HA firemen trying to put out fire in FG people watch. TLS smoke rising in distance. TLS/HA people watching fire from street corners. TLS/HA flag at half staff.
Apparently Washington, DC. TLS people standing outside of building. (looting?) TLS "Head Start sign/building. TLS black men in early evening light putting something in the trunk of a white car & walking away. LS/HA Army throwing tear gas at civilians walking away. MS army soldiers getting out of military vehicle, truck. MS tear gas pellet dispersing crowd, soldier runs up. MS soldiers go around corner, someone injured. MCU soldier opening can of something, (gas pellets?). CU soldier w/black rimmed glasses opening. MCU soldier on radio. CU sign, "Soul brothers, Black?). MCU/pan sign, "Peaceway Temple, Prophet Omega Townsend," fire trucks & smoking building. MCU restaurant window w/news clipping of MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. MCU/zoom soldiers shoulder, rifle in hand, black men on street corner talking. MCU black men walking away from soldier.
Washington, DC. MCU white soldier standing guard. MCU shadows of soldiers & in window reflection. (too dark) MS police car drives by. MS/pan traffic light sign, "Florida ave," trucks w/soldiers passing by. MS soldiers war gas masks on passing burned out automobile, vehicle, car. MS soldiers w/gas masks passing camera, streets somewhat deserted. MS soldiers through windows of burned out car. TLS soldiers patrolling street. MS black woman past burned out car & camera. MS soldiers patrolling. smoke in BG. CU soldier red cross passes. MS jeep & "military police" pass camera. MS/pan destroyed building, one wall standing.
Washington, DC. TLS burning building, fire licks sky. MS building burning, sign, "7th & P Store." MS fire hose spraying building, church in BG. MS soldiers standing, walking, fire truck arrives. MS soldiers forming wall around firemen. TLS/pan burning building, firemen speaking. MS DCFD (DC FD, DC fire department) firemen w/ladder, go in through window. MS firemen talking, soldier standing in street of burning building. MS soldiers standing by black men, keeping them away. MS/MCU white soldiers passing camera. MS soldiers in street. TLS firemen putting out fire, cloud of smoke, building obscured. MS people watching from street corner. MCU firemen from hose. MCU fireman giving directions. MS/zoom soldiers standing guard & at intersection, firemen working in BG.
Opening montage: MS U.S. Vice-President HUBERT H. HUMPHREY waving to crowd from podium at Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois; MS Governor of Alabama GEORGE WALLACE saluting crowd at press conference; MS politico RICHARD M. NIXON smiling grandly at press conference; CU U.S. President LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON flashing crooked smile; MS police officers pushing back young protesters, night; TLS burning building; TLS U.S. Marines running past camera; LS rocket launching from gantry; MS U.S. Senator ROBERT F. KENNEDY (D-NY) smiling, waving to crowd at Latino rally; CU Reverend MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. standing at podium; h/a TLS funeral cortege for MLK Jr. Opening credits.
LS picketers marching in Memphis, Tennessee, supporting 1300 striking African-American sanitation workers; MS Reverend MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. marching arm in arm with protesters; LS white police officers wearing gas masks, riot helmets & wielding billy clubs, keeping rabble in line on sidewalk; LS black people running along street, away from tear gas. CU Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking, delivering speech in Memphis, April 3, 1968 (excerpt of "Mountaintop" speech requires express written consent from the King estate in Atlanta): "I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter w/ me now b/c I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life - longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land." FO/FI TLS/MSs Memphis police officers investigating crime scene at Lorraine Motel following assassination of MLK, Jr., April 4, 1968. Nationwide riots following death of MLK: shaky (but good) panning TLS police squad car driving along city street, night; panning shot crowd passing broken shop windows, night; LS large fire burning from city bldg, nite; MS National Guardsmen carrying wounded man, night; panning MS broken windows, steel gate outside Bostonian store; traveling shots black youth hauling looted goods, day; LS/TLSs police officers wearing gas masks, firing tear gas, day. TLS U.S. Senator ROBERT F. KENNEDY (D-NY) speaking to crowd in Indianapolis, Indiana, following MLK assassination, Aug 4 1968: "For those of you who are black & are tempted to be filled w/ hatred & distrust..." MSs widow CORETTA SCOTT KING & bereaved King family viewing open casket of Martin Luther King Jr during wake. High angle LS mule-driven funeral procession of MLK through streets of Atlanta, GA, Apr 9, 1968; h/a TLS Robert Kennedy (RFK, Bobby Kennedy) marching in funeral parade, wife ETHEL KENNEDY (Ethel Skakel Kennedy) walking behind him; MS DWIGHT EISENHOWER (Ike, Dwight D. Eisenhower) and RICHARD NIXON (Tricky Dick, Richard M. Nixon) marching in funerary parade, basketball star WILT CHAMBERLAIN (it appears that Lola Falana walks to his right) marching behind them. LS/TLSs mule-drawn funeral cortege through streets of Washington, DC.
Washington, DC. MS/MCU soldiers guard. MS soldiers directing pedestrians where to go. MS street, cars passing. MS boy exiting through front window of store, woman slowly walking away. (looting?) MS black men being arrested for storing a ton of stolen groceries in the trunk of their cars. TLS DCFD firemen still working. (Audio continues, no picture, black diamond on blue BG)
Voiceover over the following images. Color footage of police officers and spectators in Memphis right after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. "I am only going to talk to you for a minute or so this evening because I have some very sad news for all of you." BW footage of MLK marching in civil rights demonstration. " Could you lower those signs please? I have some very sad news for all of you and sad news I think for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight."
BW scenes of civil rights marches, including the one on Selma. Washington DC, smoke from the rioting that occurred after King's death. Riot damaged streets. "Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black, considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible, you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge." Color footage of police arresting young African American men. Color footage of burning buildings during riots. BW Martin Luther King delivering the "I Have a Dream" Speech in Washington (no audio). Caucasian police officers assaulting black men with pepper spray and billy clubs. " We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization, black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love." RFK Delivering speech. "For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed," People crying after learning of the assassination of JFK. RFK delivering speech. "but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times. My favorite poet was Aeschylus."
Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Coretta Scott King sitting with her daughter, Bernice. Martin Luther King Jr.'s family; his two daughters, Bernice and Yolanda, his brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King, and his son, Martin Luther King III at funeral for Martin Luther King Jr.; predominantly adult African American men and women sitting behind family. Adult African American male pallbearers carrying coffin through a mixed crowd of African American and Caucasian adult men. U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) and his wife (Ethel) walking through a crowd of predominantly adult African American men; adult African American man leading the Kennedy's through crowd. Kennedy (off camera) speaking on the assassination of King in Indianapolis, Indiana: "Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort... For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. We have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times. My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: 'Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.' What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black."
1968 Riots after MLK assassination.
Excellent MOS COLOR shots of smoldering, destroyed buildings after riots in Chicago after MLK assassination, 1968. MS signs at intersection of Roosevelt & Spaulding. MS National Guard on patrol; TLS Nat l Guard in army transports. MS Chicago police officers kicking black men off the street, away from locked & gated stores. TLS contingent of young black men walking in street under el tracks. "When we open our eyes today and look around America, we see America not through the eyes of someone who has enjoyed the fruits of Americanism. We see America through the eyes of someone who has been the victim of Americanism. We don t see any American dream; we ve experienced only the American nightmare. We haven t benefited from America s Democracy. We ve only suffered from America s hypocrisy, and the generation that s coming up now can see it and are not afraid to say it. If you go to jail, so what! If you re black, you were born in jail. If you black you were born in jail, in the North as well as the South. Stop talking about the South, as long as you South of the Canadian border, you re South. Don t call Governor Wallace a Dixie governor, Romney is a Dixie governor. Twenty two million black victims of Americanism are waking up and they re gaining a new political conscious. They re becoming politically mature and as they develop this politically maturity their able to see the recent trends in these political elections."
Color shot of MLK lying in casket. RFK Delivering speech. "He wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God." What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another..." MLK being fingerprinted and having his mug shot taken after being arrested. Robert Kennedy visiting poor African American community in the rural south. RFK walking hand in hand with young Native American boy. "So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love, a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke." BW footage of MLK s funeral. Young Caucasian Anti-Vietnam protestors with signs. "We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder. But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land." Color footage of African Americans marching in Vietnam War protest. Color footage of police confronting hippies (1968 Democratic Convention). BW of RFK sitting alone on rocky outcropping looking thoughtful and sad. "Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much." Cheers from the crowd.
Color. April, 1968. Washington DC. The riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Aerial of the Capitol Dome, smoke rising from burning buildings.
Stokely Carmichael remembering the riots in Washington D.C. in April, 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr
Color. April, 1968. Washington DC. The riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Aerial of a burning buildings on block in ghetto. Fireman working with hose, smoldering building in background. Fire truck driving on street. CU of an African American fireman. Panning fire truck, stop at two white police officers in riot gear detaining young African American man. Aerial of several city blocks, many burning buildings.
Man remembering the riots in Washington D.C. in April, 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr
Color. April, 1968. Washington DC. The riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Group of young African Americans carrying looted goods on sidewalk. They take off running, covering their faces. Aerial burned-out building.
Stokely Carmichael saying that rioting was imminent for 1968, but MLK's assassination made it happen in April instead of in the summer.
Martin Luther King funeral: coffin in mule-drawn cart in street, shot of mourners along parade route.
CU of New York Times headline announcing MLK's death
Stokely Carmichael talking about the panic among local black leaders as the news of King's death started to filter into the black communities.
Mayor Marion Barry describing the gathering crowds after King's death, firebombing.
Color. April, 1968. Washington DC. The riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Aerial of burning buildings. Police and firefighters trying to stop a building from burning. Aerials of fire trucks on fire scene, burning buildings, heavy outpouring of smoke; TLS of Ladder Truck hosing water onto roof of a burning building; MSs of police officers in riot gear cocking their guns, patrolling streets.
Former Mayor Walter Washington describing his no shoot policy during the riots. He says many thought the police should have shot looters.
Color. April, 1968. Washington DC. The riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Riot police on streets. National Guard boarding a truck, deploying, troop carriers pulling onto freeway. National Guardsmen in a jeep using 2-way radio near burning storefront. Guardsman in helmet, gas mask, with rifle and bayonet, walking by camera. Capitol Dome, tilt down to MS squad of National Guardsmen on patrol.
Color. April, 1968. Washington DC. The riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Smashed window of storefront, tilt down to mannequin on floor. Police officers in riot gear restraining a black teenager. Cops throwing a suspect into a paddy wagon. Wide avenue with towering smoke in distance, slew of Guardsmen directing traffic. Young Caucasian relief workers handing out bags of food and emergency supplies. African American male workers sweeping up glass and ash from sidewalks. Travelling shot of the destroyed commercial strip.
Color. April, 1968. Washington DC. The riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volunteers unloading a milk shipment and relief supplies from a truck, into basement; MS of black residents, mostly women, picking through boxes of donated clothes.
Aerial of burning buildings in northeast Washington D.C. as a result of the riots following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Police working near riot scene. Firefighters putting out a fire; sirens wail in BG.
