Home movie footage of the Selma to Montgomery march

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A home movie with footage of the Sunday, March 21, 1965, march from Selma to Montgomery. There are two copies of it, one on 8mm color acetate film (2011.176.1.1a) and another on DVD (2011.176.1.2a), both of which are silent. An original 50-foot plastic film reel (2011.176.1.1b) and a an original cardboard film box (2011.176.1.1c) accompany the 8mm film, while a DVD case (2011.176.1.2b) accompanies the DVD. Filmed by Donna Chalmers and her husband, the home movie opens with footage of an unidentified person riding a snowmobile as well as the cameraperson walking through snow-covered fields. Subsequent footage shows the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. It is shot from the front seat of a moving vehicle and features activities on the road in Montgomery, Alabama. These include footage of marchers walking along the roadside, soldiers preparing for the march, a propaganda billboard stating that Martin Luther King Jr.

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