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Civil Rights Demonstration in Austin (1963)
Gordon Wilkison
Sound
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1963
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B/W
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English
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  • Highlights
    Booker T. Bonner, a member of the Freedom Now Committee, took issue with Governor John Connally's personal opposition to the public accommodations bill, who believed it invaded businessmen's private rights. (Connally instead pledged to aid the integration of all tax-supported facilities.) In response, Bonner drafted a petition calling for the Governor to initiate a series of executive orders banning all racial discrimination in state public facilities and employment, declaring a state accommodations law to ban discrimination in privately owned facilities open to the public, repealing all state segregation laws and immediately integrating all school districts, and enacting a $1.25 minimum wage. Bonner then delivered the petition to the Governor during the march, which the press referred to as "M-Day."
    Civil rights demonstrators and speakers at Wooldridge Park, including W.J. Dunham, a Dallas attorney and NAACP official; Dr. Ruth Belinger McCoy, a San Antonio physician; Miss Barbara Jonian, a Houston attorney; and Reverend Claude Black, a pastor from San Antonio.
    Bobby Joiner crashes the march. The grocer from Grand Prairie led a small counter-demonstration for the Indignant White Citizen's Council (IWCC). The grant to host such a parade was approved at the last minute—against the advice of Connally—under the sole provision that it occur at least three hours before Bonner's march. While Joiner predicted upwards of 3,000 people to come out in support of IWCC's segregationist stance, only a handful showed up. (Connally personally issued a stay-at-home appeal for any who harbored racial views similar to Joiner.) 
    Civil rights demonstrators moving north on Congress Avenue towards the Capitol
    General Edwin Walker
    Civil rights demonstrators being interviewed by the press on the Capitol grounds
    Doris Miller Auditorium, 2300 Rosewood Avenue
    Looking east on 11th Street at Congress Avenue.  In the background: James Earl Rudder State Office Building, State Highway Building, Travis County Courthouse (demolished 1964)
    Texas State Capitol Building and grounds
    Looking west on 11th Street, approaching the I-35 overpass
    Looking west on 11th Street, approaching Red River
    Looking east on 11th Street near the intersection with Trinity
    Demonstrators crossing in front of the Travis County Courthouse and entering Wooldridge Park