Clarke, Catherine, 1929-1981,

Catherine "Kit" Clarke was a documentary filmmaker whose work emphasized civil rights and poverty in the South, and the anti-war protests of the 1960's and 1970's.

Clarke began her association with the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project as a volunteer for the National Council of Churches' Hattiesburg Project in 1964. During the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965, she worked as the assistant public relations and press officer for the mobile marching unit. She also served as a travelling reporter for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Summer Community Organization and Political Education Project (SCOPE) in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. Clarke was also an associate producer for "Lay My Burden Down," a sixty minute documentary for NET Journal about conditions in the South one year after the Selma to Montgomery March, and film coordinator and radio reporter for the 1968 Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C.

From the description of Civil rights collection, 1962-1969. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122485695

Catherine “Kit” Clarke, born in Philadelphia on August 31, 1929, was a documentary filmmaker, whose work emphasized civil rights, poverty and the anti-war protests of the 1960's and 1970's.

She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1954 with an A.B in Modern European History and later took a course in television production techniques at Boston College. Clarke worked as a researcher for CBS Public Affairs (1959-60) and as an editorial associate for NBC News (1960-61). In 1961, she became Director of Research at NBC News - Special Projects for Bell and Howell `Close-Up' and went on to become an Assistant Producer for the series. In 1964, she was the associate producer for The World's Girls and Saga Western Man: 1964 for ABC.

Clarke began her association with the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project as a volunteer for the National Council of Churches Hattiesburg Project. That summer, she taught remedial classes for two weeks. By January 1965, Clarke's increasing commitment to the Civil Rights Movement led her to resign her network position to do freelance work.

From January to March of that year, Clarke wrote a film treatment, A Christian Response to Racial Tension, for the Lutheran Film Associates. During the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965, she worked as the assistant public relations and press officer for the mobile marching unit. Presumably, her position during the March led to her managing press relations and doing reporting and researching for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) from May to August of that year. Clarke also worked as a traveling reporter for the SCLC, Summer Community Organization and Political Education Project (SCOPE) in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, during this time.

In 1965, Clarke did research for a projected film on the black child for the United Church of Christ. At some point, she met Jack Willis, who in 1964 had produced The Streets of Greenwood, a twenty minute documentary. She joined him as associate producer for Lay My Burden Down, a sixty minute documentary for NET Journal about conditions in the South one year after the Selma to Montgomery March. The documentary was broadcast in New York City on November 21, 1966. Clarke and Willis also worked together to produce Appalachia: Rich Land, Poor People for NET Journal in 1968. Also, in 1968, she was a paid staff member of the SCLC and worked as film coordinator and radio reporter with the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C.

Catherine Clarke was nominated for an Academy Award in 1971 as producer of the short feature, Sticky My Fingers, Fleet My Feet. Her independent work documented much of the anti-war activism of the early 1970's and she produced a film on Saigon's political prisoners towards the end of the Vietnam War.

Catherine Clarke died of cancer on December 6, 1981.

Despite the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Southern Blacks continued to face blatant discrimination when attempting to register to vote with local officials, as the legislation had not provided for the assignment of federal registrars. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) chose Selma, Alabama as the focal point for a series of protests to draw attention to continued discriminatory practices. The protests began to yield results in Selma, but the SCLC requiring more than a local solution planned a march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery to expand their operations toward a national objective. Violent confrontations by local authorities culminated in a national outcry and an order of federal protection for a group of marchers traveling from Selma to Montgomery along Highway 80 in Alabama. The public support generated by these events aided the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Anticipating the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Bill, the SCLC formed the Summer Community Organization and Political Education Program. The purpose of the organization was to expand the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project throughout the South. Hundreds of Northern volunteers were enlisted to work with the SCLC field staff in voter education programs and take advantage of the presence of Federal registrars provided by the Bill.

In 1968, the SCLC planned a campaign of civil disobedience to draw attention to the nationwide problem of poverty. The Poor People's Campaign was organized and Resurrection City was established in Washington D.C. between May and July of that year. Thousands of poor people from all over the country set up tents on the Mall between the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument as an ongoing protest against poverty and racism in the nation.

From the guide to the Civil rights collection, 1962-1969, (The New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.)