Rare 1963 Color Footage Reveals Intimate Glimpse into Segregated American Life

A recently unearthed collection of color home footage from 1963, captured by a Black American grandmother, offers a rare and intimate glimpse into life during segregation. Shared by her grandson, known as Jay Kin’s Journal, the video provides a first-person narrative of the systemic racial discrimination prevalent in the United States at the time. The footage, filmed by the grandmother, showcases everyday scenes within an all-Black neighborhood, including children playing and adults tending to their homes. The narrator vividly recalls the distinct separation of communities, stating, “There were all Black people living in that neighborhood. There were uh any white people living there at that time.” She also highlights the economic self-sufficiency of these communities, noting, “We had neighborhood stores back then.” A particularly poignant moment in the narration describes an incident on a segregated bus. The grandmother recounts, “We could stay on the bus, put the coin in and then we had to go to the back from the middle to the back where um the the colored was six.” She then details how, despite an empty bus, she and her sister were compelled to move from the front when a white man boarded. “And the white man stood up over us,” she explains. “He wouldn't take a seat behind us, cause it was plenty seats, cause it was an empty bus like I said.” The bus driver then intervened, telling them, “You girls gonna have to get up, you have to move to the back.” When they questioned why, the driver threatened, “He told us if we didn't move to the back that we had to get off.” The grandmother concluded, “And we didn't move to the back, and he put us off.” This personal account, brought to light decades later, serves as a powerful testament to the lived realities of segregation, offering a critical educational resource for understanding this complex period in American history.

The Nerd Stash

one month ago

Florida Grandson Shows Footage His Historian Grandmother Took During Times of S…

A Florida man shares footage his grandmother took and audio she recorded that shows what life was like in 1963 Segregated America.