hot-sheet house Royal Motel, which was squeezed between our offices at the World and Big Bethel AME Church.
But, confirming John Lewis' opinion, the big guys, the national media in particular, carried the day during the early phases of the movement. The daily television dose of white cops and the white establishment coming down hard on mostly young blacks, assisted by mobs and sometimes Ku Klux Klansmen in full regalia, wielding billy clubs and unleashing snarling German shepherds, touched the hearts and minds in this country and around the world. The sight of children being knocked about by the powerful force of fire hoses in the hands of white firefighters prompted hordes of students of all races from across the nation to flock south to be a part of history.
There was a simple explanation for Scott’s and the World’s opposition to the movement. He was part of the old-line black leadership that included the Rev. M.L. King, Sr., which partnered with the white establishment that wanted to keep a lid on protests in Atlanta. The city was trying to impress major league sports organizations that it was ready for the big leagues; city fathers, black and white, agreed that they would do their best to prevent demonstrations, as long as possible, and if there were protests, they would not be the violent resistance seen in Birmingham, New Orleans, Mississippi, etc. Atlanta’s slogan was, “the city too busy to hate.” Eventually, the city experienced protests, but violence was kept to a minimum and staunch segregationist leader Lester Maddox, became governor (the state was predominantly white) but never mayor. And Atlanta got its major league teams.
Richard Valeriani, of NBC News, pointed out a bit of luck that accompanied the action, noting that the timing could not have been more perfect for the movement: network news, rich and competitive, was in its infancy and needed the big story and accompanying visuals of great pictures that the movement provided in abundance. Had there been another major competing story, say, Vietnam or anti-war protests, the civil rights movement might not have been covered the way it was, might not have had the impact it did, and might have turned out to be a completely different story, he said.
Even before the big guys from the North made their way south, some white journalists in Atlanta realized what was going on, that they were onto an historic venture. I was acquainted with many of them as we covered some of the same local events; much of their reporting was fair and accurate, a few even sympathetic to the movement, but almost all understood that they were covering the unraveling of a way of life. Some of them went on to more prominence at bigger organizations, John Palmer, Frank McGee, John Roberts, Doug Kiker, Fred Powledge, Walter Rugaber, Al Kuettner, John Pennington, John Herbers, Reg Murphy, John Chancellor and Bruce Galphin among them.
Some southern editors and columnists provided excellent coverage and opinion writing: Ralph McGill and Eugene Patterson, Atlanta Constitution; Pat Watters and Margaret Long, Atlanta Journal; John Siegenthaler, Nashville Tennessean; Bill Baggs, Miami News; Sylvan Meyer, Gainesville, Ga. Times; Buford Boone, Tuscaloosa News;
Reg Murphy and Hal Gulliver, Macon
Charlton Heston, James Baldwin, Marlon Brando and Harry Belafonte gave the Civil Rights Movement star power and guaranteed media coverage.
Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.org
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