Press Releases

For immediate release

ContentOne Civil Rights Site Features News, Archived Records, Videos

Four generations alive today have direct connections to the Civil Rights Movement spawned in the South nearly 60 years ago. Each generation has important stories to tell, to pass on, and to hear. Gannett is uniquely positioned to help tell those stories, make those connections and provide rich context because its
newspapers and television stations were there – in communities such as
Jackson, Miss.; Montgomery, Ala.; Greensboro, N.C.; and Atlanta, Ga.

ContentOne has launched a
major Gannett-wide project around the Civil Rights Movement.

It is a dynamic live portal that updates continually and features㄀news
stories, archived records through partner Footnote, documents and videos on
the civil rights movement.㄀ At the project’s heart is an all-out
effort to capture the personal stories that tell the history of the movement.
The site invites four generations to write about their experiences, upload photos
and videos and pass along their histories. To give context and inspiration,
the video segment showcases stories from all four generations. And the site
conveys the stories of the communities, beginning with Jackson, through its
newspaper archives and award-winning reporter Jerry Mitchell. Mitchell’s
investigations of unsolved civil rights murders have won kudos and led to convictions.

YouTube㄀also just launched a㄀shared㄀video platform for the site.㄀The
platform㄀will allow people nationwide to shoot and upload videos to㄀a
new㄀civil rights channel hosted by YouTube.㄀With the YouTube㄀platform,㄀visitors’
videos will be displayed
on the YouTube channel as well as the civil rights site.

ContentOne is rolling out localized versions of the national site for all your markets that include options for local advertising. Deployment information will be sent soon.

Site highlights include:

News coverage. Current news event coverage and content around the anniversaries of significant civil rights events will drive the continual updates of the page throughout the year. ㄀In coming months, look to the site to mark the anniversaries of Selma’s Bloody Sunday march; the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther㄀King㄀Jr.㄀and the urban unrest that ensued;㄀Medgar Evers’ assassination; Brown v.㄀the Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ㄀We’ve also received commitments from notable civil right leaders㄀who are interested in telling their stories of four generations of㄀family activists.㄀We’ll send information soon on a print and online package㄀that will profile some of these㄀families and their㄀contributions to㄀the movement.

Civil rights cold cases. The FBI has asked for help in solving 33 civil rights murder cases. The site gives the details of those cases and asks readers to share what they know.
A blog from Gannett’s Jerry Mitchell. Mitchell’s work㄀for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., helped bring to justice the murderers of Medgar Evers; civil rights workers Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner; and the four little girls killed in a Birmingham, Ala. church bombing. Readers can follow Mitchell’s blog as he investigates other unsolved mysteries.
Digitized content. News pages from The Clarion-Ledger and the Daily News in Jackson provide original coverage of civil rights events in the 1960s. The newspaper pages provide context, reflecting a time when blacks were called Negroes, governors stood at school house doors and Northern integrationists were called racial agitators and the status of their activities recorded in a daily front-page score box.
Video: In addition to YouTube videos, Gannett stations are sharing historic video from the height of the civil rights era, including significant people and events in Atlanta, Little Rock and Greensboro.

Interview a Hero, Become One. The site provides interviews with both those who lived through and were affected by the civil rights movement and younger people who are viewing it from a historical perspective. Anyone with a story or connection is invited to share their interviews with family, friends and community members.

We are excited about㄀this site and the partnerships with YouTube and Footnote,㄀and we㄀hope you will help promote and encourage readers and viewers to participate.㄀

Here㄀is a㄀link to more information for civil rights story budgets, announcements and promotion options in print and online:㄀ https://sps.gannett.gci/areas/contentone/civilrights㄀㄀

Questions can be directed to㄀ContentOne㄀editors㄀Nichelle Smith㄀(mailto:nysmith@gannett.com) or Jeanette Barrett-Stokes (jbstokes@gannett.com).

Last Modified: March 2010

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