Justice for Georgia: An Ethnographic Documentary Exploring Civil Rights Activism in Atlanta Public

Abstract

Justice for Georgia is an ethnographic documentary which seeks an understanding of contemporary civil rights activism through exploring the efforts and experiences of two Atlanta-based activists as they manage their organization Justice for Georgia. This textual report is intended to accompany the film to explain my motivations and goals, discuss applications of visual anthropology and debates in documentary filmmaking which influenced my approach, examine Atlanta as the site for this research, and describe my fieldwork and production process. 

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction………………………………………………………………………...............................……1

I. Personal Interest…………………………………………………………………..............….................….......…...1

II. Documentary Filmmaking as an Approach to Exploring Civil Rights Activism.….................….......…...3

III. Overview of Film……………………………………………………………………...............................…........…5

Chapter 2: Literature Review………………………………………………………...….............……....................…6

I. Film as an Ethnographic Research Tool………………………………………...…...........................…….........7

II. Applied Visual Anthropology………………………………………………………................................…........8

III. Approaches to Documentary Filmmaking…………………………………........…….…….......................…10

Chapter 3: Site Review: A Brief History on the Evolution of Civil Rights Activism in Atlanta, Georgia......17

I. Reconstruction and the Early 20th Century.……..…………………………...…….................................…..17

II. Post-WWII Efforts: Pragmatism and Gradualism..………………………………............................….....…19

III. The Civil Rights Movement: Students and Direct-Action Protest ...…………...…...................….....….22

IV. Atlanta: The Black Mecca of the South?.........................................................................................23

V. What This Means for Civil Rights Activism Today……………………………….................................…..…26

Chapter 4: Fieldwork…………………..……………………………………………….....................................….…27

Chapter 5: Conclusion………………………...……………………….................................……………….….…...34

Bibliography………………………………………………………………..……………………...................................38 

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Anthropology
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Anthropology, Cultural
Mot-clé	Atlanta racial justice documentary film civil rights
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Dr. Anna Grimshaw, Emory University
Committee Members	Dr. Tracy Scott, Emory University Dr. Justin Hosbey, Emory University

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