Governor Vandiver and the January 11th Riots

Governor Vandiver and the January 11th Riots

Integration of the University of Georgia

The clip begins with a January 12 press conference during which reporters question Governor Ernest Vandiver about a January 11 riot at the University of Georgia. The clip begins with a January 12 press conference during which reporters question governor Ernest Vandiver about a January 11 riot at the University of Georgia. Governor Vandiver reads from a previously issued statement, detailing his reaction to riot events. He cites a memorandum from Colonel William P. Trotter, director of the state Department of Public Safety, regarding details of the evening, as well as a statement by mayor Snow reporting a return to order in Athens. Vandiver says there had been no prior plans for dealing with any potential disturbances. In response, a reporter quotes mayor Snow of Athens who says he warned Colonel Trotter of potential violence.

African American students Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes first applied to the University of Georgia in the summer of 1959 but were denied, according to the university, based on lack of space. After several other unsuccessful applications, lawyers Donald Hollowell, Horace T. Ward, and Constance B. Motley filed a federal lawsuit against the university on behalf of the students. On January 6, 1961, federal judge William A. Bootle ordered the university to admit the students and to stop rejecting applicants solely based on race. Governor Vandiver and state officials responded by citing the 1956 appropriations act preventing the state from funding integrated schools. Judge Bootle issued a temporary restraining order against Vandiver on January 10 preventing him from cutting off university funding and on January 13 declared the appropriations act unconstitutional. After a basketball game the evening of January 11 in which the University of Georgia lost to Georgia Institute of Technology, students rioted outside of Myers Hall, the dormitory where Hunter lived. The university suspended Hunter and Holmes "for their own protection" and sent them back to Atlanta that evening. Judge Bootle ordered the students readmitted January 13, and they returned to campus January 16.

WSB-TV

Digital Library of Georgia

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

January 1961

Moving Image

English

newscast of a press conference

1:37

mp4

WSB-TV