''Louisiana Diary'' is a documentary film produced and directed by

KQED (TV) KQED (channel 9) is a PBS member television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by KQED Inc., alongside fellow PBS station KQEH (channel 54) and NPR member KQED- ...

's Richard O. Moore for

National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It o ...

in 1963. It was first aired in 1964. Copyright to this film is held by

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

TV station

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

, based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It follows the

Congress of Racial Equality The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African Americans, African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission ...

(CORE) from July to August 1963, as they undertake an African American voter registration drive in the town of

Plaquemine, Louisiana Plaquemine is a city in and the parish seat of Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area. At the 2010 United States census, the population was 7,119; the 2020 census determined its ...

(Iberville Parish). The film includes scenes of citizens undergoing mock interrogations at voter education clinics; CORE members canvassing from house to house; civil rights meetings in Baptist Churches; a mass march and vigil; police tear gassing crowds and making arrests; interviews with Ronnie Moore (Field Secretary for CORE in Louisiana) and Mama Joe Homes; a speech by

James Farmer James Leonard Farmer Jr. (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) was an American civil rights activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement "who pushed for nonviolent protest to dismantle segregation, and served alongside Martin Luther King Jr." H ...

(National Secretary of CORE), and views of a Plaquemine contingent getting on a bus heading for the August 28th 1963

March on Washington The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...

. Narrated by Moore, the film adds a postscript that on October 17, 1963, Reverend Joseph Carter became the first African American who successfully registered to vote in

West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana West Feliciana Parish (French: ''Paroisse de Feliciana Ouest''; Spanish: ''Parroquia de West Feliciana'') is a civil parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 15,625, and 15,310 at the 2020 census. ...

. A 16mm answer film print of ''Louisiana Diary'' was digitally restored in 2011 by the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive, which was loaned to them by Moore. The Amistad Research Center at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

also preserves a 16mm film print of this film.

External links

Watch the film online.
1963 films Documentary films about American politics Mass media in the San Francisco Bay Area Documentary films about the civil rights movement 1963 documentary films African-American history of Louisiana History of African-American civil rights Documentary films about Louisiana 1960s American films {{civil-rights-movement-stub

See also

External links