Join the UCLA Film and Television Archive's senior newsreel preservationist Blaine Bartell for a look at the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and more through Hearst newsreels and footage of the era, on Saturday, March 21, 3 p.m. at the Billy Wilder Theater in the Hammer Museum. The event is part of the UCLA Film and Television Archive's month-long UCLA Festival of Preservation, a biennial showcase of the archive's latest restoration projects.
The program will start by looking at three newsreels covering the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, another civil rights landmark, which many people felt was not strong enough in regards to guaranteeing voting rights. There will also be footage shot during a second attempt to cross the Edmund Petus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, two days after "Bloody Sunday." This event’s highlight will be the screening of Johnson’s complete “We Shall Overcome,” or “the American Promise,” speech, followed by a short filmed interview with Martin Luther King Jr. where he discusses a meeting he had with Johnson regarding recent events.
In addition, newsreels to be screened will include coverage of other events of note from 1964 and 1965, among them the Beatles in Holland, Ted Kennedy surviving a plane crash, the death of King Farouk of Egypt and American troops arriving in San Francisco prior to being sent to Vietnam.
Find more information on the event here. The UCLA Festival of Preservation will be screening more than 40 films, as well as newsreels, television programs and more. See the complete catalog and purchase tickets here.
