A City Decides

Duration: 27½min

Year Published: 1956

Creator: Charles Guggenheim for Fund for the Republic

Format: 16mm

Color: B&W

Sound: Sound

Description: Tells about the integration of the public schools of St. Louis. The story revolves around a teacher who was directly faced with a racial incident in his class at Beaumont High School shortly after integration took place

Complete Record:

A CITY DECIDES (1956, sound, 27min, b&w, 16mm) Sponsor: Fund for the republic. production Co.: Charles Guggenheim & Associates. director/producer: Charles Guggenheim. resources: Copyright not registered; Howard thompson, “the 16mm Honor roll,” NYT, dec. 29, 1957, 57; William J. Sloan, “the documentary Film and the negro: the Evolution of the integration Film,” Journal of the Society of Cinematologists 4 (1964–65): 66–69. Holdings: Macdonald. Documentary, with some dramatized sequences, covering the racial integration of St. Louis public schools after the 1954 Brown decision. William J. Sloan wrote, “The film was note- worthy in that it revealed, at least briefly, the fears of Negro parents in having their children attend school with white children.” note: The film employed nonprofessional actors and voice-over narration by a local schoolteacher. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject in 1956.

Metadata Source:Educational film guide. Supplements (1959-62)


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