Humble Parade, 04/25/68: The Humble High School marching band leads a parade through downtown Humble
Traffic Breakfast, 04/25/68: Patrolmen attend a breakfast presentation about traffic accidents
Houston Chief of Police Herman Short
Physical Condition, 04/25/68: Physical conditioning at the the US Marine Corps Reserve headquarters in Houston. While the sign identifies the Third Amphibian Tractor Company, all companies for that battalion continue to be located at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California.
Construction Fatal, 04/24/68: Investigators on the scene of a fatal construction accident
Britisher on Gold, 04/24/68: A British economic expert comments on the lasting gold rush in the European market. The influx in gold sales resulted from Italy’s defection from the seven-nation international gold pool the previous month.
Wallace Arrives, 04/25/68: Third-party presidential candidate George Wallace arrives in Beaumont and begins his jam-packed campaign tour of Texas. He visited 14 cities in three days, holding airport news conferences at multiple stops and evening campaign rallies in Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. Wallace rose to national prominence through his opposition to racial integration as governor of Alabama. In 1963, he blocked the entrance to Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in a symbolic attempt to prevent two African-American students from enrolling. The incident, later known as the “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door,” prompted President John F. Kennedy to federalize the Alabama National Guard to command Wallace to step aside. In the 1968 presidential election, Wallace ran as the American Independent Party candidate on a segregationist platform. He did not expect to win the race, but sought to garner enough electoral votes to prevent either major party candidate from winning the necessary majority. The House of Representatives would then decide the election, and Wallace hoped that southern states could use their influence to halt federal desegregation efforts. Wallace won five states, amassing 46 Electoral College votes. Republican candidate Richard Nixon nevertheless acquired enough electoral votes, 301, to handily win the election.
TSU Charge, 04/29/68: Change of venue hearing for Charles Freeman, one of the TSU Five. District Judge Wendell Odom ordered the trial transferred from Houston to Victoria to ensure a fair trial after extensive news coverage. District Judge Joe Kelly of Victoria subsequently set a trial date of June 24.
Beaumont Plane Crash, 04/28/68: Investigators search the remains of a plane crash that killed five members of the Lamar University track team, their coach, and the pilot. The twin-engine private plane plunged into a rice field a mile short of the airport at 12:24 a.m. on April 28. The team was returning to Beaumont after competing in the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.
Traffic Fatality, 04/29/68: Law enforcement on the scene of a fatal traffic incident
N.A.N. Air Safety Expert, 04/24/68: An air safety expert expresses his concern about the number of unreported incidents that did not lead to accidents
Mexican Parade, 04/26/68
Politics-War on Poverty, 04/26/68: Individuals attend an organizing meeting for community action programs that operate under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. The centerpiece of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, the Economic Opportunity Act sought to combat the sources of poverty rather than its consequences.
George Wallace, 04/28/68: Supporters of third-party presidential candidate George Wallace brandish signs and Confederate flags at a political rally in Houston. The event closed Wallace’s three-day tour of Texas. He campaigned across the state to garner enough support to add his name to the state’s November election ballot. Wallace’s name ultimately appeared on the ballot in all 50 states, but not in the District of Columbia.
Wallace addresses the assembly, denouncing “liberals and the left wing”
Army Medals, 04/28/68: Soldiers receive service medals in a ceremony outside the US Army Reserve Training Center
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This film from KHOU-TV Channel 11 in Houston contains a series of short news segments that would have aired as highlights to news stories. Many are silent and would have been voiced over by the anchorperson during a live broadcast. The titles for each segment are the originals created by KHOU-TV. The clips on this reel all date from April 24 to 29, 1968. This series features news segments about a hearing related to the prosecution of the TSU Five and a deadly plane crash in Beaumont. Also included is footage of third-party presidential candidate George Wallace during his three-day campaign tour of Texas. Please note, these segments depicts individuals waving the Confederate battle flag. While a contentious debate over the display of Confederate symbols continues to the present day, in the context of the 1960s we can interpret their use as an emblematic resistance to the Civil Rights Movement. Historians point out that the Confederate battle flag largely disappeared after the Civil War, reemerging in 1948 among Southern Democrats protesting federal civil rights initiatives. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the flag subsequently acquired a strong association with racial segregation and white supremacy. The Texas Archive of the Moving Image does not condone such racial prejudice, but presents the film as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as to claim this ideology never existed.
The digital preservation of this collection was made possible by a grant to the Texas Archive of the Moving Image and the Houston Public Library from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
On the night of May 16, 1967, police blockaded the Texas Southern University campus in response to a student civil rights protest. Amidst the high racial tensions, the confrontation escalated into an “Alamo-scale shootout,” according to the Houston Chronicle. Police fired an estimated 3,000 rounds into TSU’s Lanier Dormitory, where the students were blockaded. Law enforcement raided the building in the early morning hours of May 17, arresting 488 students—the largest mass arrest in Houston history. Two police officers were wounded and another, rookie Louis Kuba, was killed. A small group of students, known as the TSU Five, were indicted on charges of inciting a riot, assault, and murder. They were Charles Freeman, Trazawell Franklin, Douglas Waller, John Parker, and Floyd Nichols. Only Freeman was tried, resulting in a hung jury. A judge ultimately dismissed the case against all five defendants due to insufficient evidence, believing that Kuba most likely died from a ricocheting police bullet.
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