U.Va. Launches Online TV Civil Rights News Archive

bradenton.com has an AP report that historical researchers, documentary filmmakers and educators now have access to an online archive of television news reports during Virginia’s civil rights era.

The curated collection of film clips and anchor scripts from WSLS-TV in Roanoke is believed to be the only surviving TV news archive from that era. It includes news stories broadcast by WSLS from 1951 to 1971, the University of Virginia Library said Tuesday in a news release.

The archive is not limited to coverage of the civil rights movement and Massive Resistance efforts in Virginia. There also are news reports that depict life in Virginia in the mid-20th century, including beauty pageants and polio vaccinations of first- and second-graders.