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A rarely seen documentary about The March. {Martin Luther King, Jr.}

Photo I took on cold rainy day in DC on first-ever visit, when was memorably welcomed to town by my Congressman at Capitol:

Martin Luther King, Jr: “Mountaintop” speech full length from CarvedBlock on Vimeo.

Videos:

“This is the speech MLK gave the night before he was murdered. He KNEW they were gunning for him. THIS is the speech that defined what had been and what came to pass. Free at last, Free at last.”

From the National Archives:

George Stevens Jr., who headed the United States Information Agency (USIA) Motion Picture Service unit from 1962-67, brought in young talented documentary filmmakers such as Charles Guggenheim, Carroll Ballard, Kent McKenzie, Leo Seltzer, Terry Sanders, Bruce Herschensohn, and James Blue, who directed “The March.” This period ushered in the ‘Golden Era’ of USIA films.

Examining the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington from the ground-level and focusing on the idealistic passion, joy and synergy of the crowds, Blue’s documentary lets us see the event take shape from the planning stage — with sound checks and worries about whether people will attend — to the arrival of enormous crowds on parades of trains and buses. It culminates in Martin Luther King’s electrifying “I Have a Dream” speech.

These USIA films were rarely seen in America because, fearing propaganda, the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act mandated that no USIA film could be shown domestically without a special act of Congress. These films are being rediscovered because a 1990 act of Congress (P.L. 101-246) authorized domestic screening twelve years after release.

This film is reel three of three available on the National Archives YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/usnationalarch…

The March, 1964

Transcript (PDF): http://archives.gov/social-media/tran…

CREATED BY
U.S. Information Agency (1982-10/01/1999)

SUMMARY
This documentary film, directed by James Blue, examines the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington from its planning stages to its culmination in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

REPOSITORY:
Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-M), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.

For information about ordering reproductions of moving images held by the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Records Section, visit: http://www.archives.gov/research/orde…

SUBJECTS
Civil rights demonstrations
Baez, Joan
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
Odetta, 1930-
Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-
Blue, James, Director

MORE INFORMATION:
More information is available in the National Archives online catalog:
http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action…