Home movie footage of the Selma to Montgomery march: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

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., was a “student of Communism,” and news stations setting up at the state capitol building. Some of the structures captured in the film include the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma and the Alabama State Capitol Building in Montgomery. The final scenes of the film reveal the aftermath of a tornado, capturing fallen trees and damaged homes.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: March 21, 1965
• Created by: Donna Chalmers, American, born 1940
• Subject of: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
• Subject of: Jim Letherer, American, 1933 - 2001
• Type: silent films
• Type: home movies
• Type: color films (visual works)
• Type: DVDs
• Type: 8mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: (1) acetate film with plastic and cardboard
• Medium: (2) aluminum with polycarbonate and plastic
• Dimensions: Duration (digital file): 3 min., 54 sec.
• Place filmed: Montgomery, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
• Place filmed: Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Military
• Topic: Politics
• Topic: U.S. History, 1961-1969
• Object number: 2011.176.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: ©Donna Chalmers Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.