Kelly Jacinto Ozuna & Jany Nguyen

Artifact #2:

Curating Atlanta's Underground Press

The previous Bird mentioned the killing of Brandon Gibson, and he was 17 years old when he got killed by police. Hosea Williams, who originally planned Martin Luther King's funeral, wanted to schedule a march in the funeral procession with Brandon's body. The Gibson family decided not to allow Brandon's body to be used for the march, so Williams canceled the march. However, people gathered at the grave, and Williams believed he must lead this march. He warned people that this wasn't a legal march, so there would be police, and everybody should be prepared. Unsurprisingly, there were policies across the stress when the march approached downtown. Behind, there were police officers mounted on horses. There were numerous incidents of police beating and brutalizing protestors. There were fifteen arrests and several injured cited. Some people decided to march the next day until the police recognized that they had the right to peaceful protests. Top city officials held press conferences and meetings to dissuade the marchers from going ahead with their plans because of feared additional violence. At 4:25, an Executive Order was signed, calling for a commemorative march held at 4:30. A crowd of 250 started along the parade route and were escorted by police. People were saying that this was a real victory for them, and they believed in the right to march in protest against the government. Willy Bolden

Cover page of "The Great Speckled Bird"

The Great Speckled Bird

Tom and Stephanie Coffin, Howard Romaine, and Gene Guerrero Jr. founded The Great Speckled Bird. It was first published in March 1968 and received much attention from readers. Within two years, The Great Speckled Bird became America's top three most significant newspapers, according to New Georgia Encyclopedia. The newspaper emphasized the War in Vietnam, civil rights, socioeconomic rights, labor issues, and more important topics.

Volume 7 Issue 27

Volume 7 Issue 27 of The Great Speckled Bird was published July 8th, 1974. The Bird focused on the discrimination against colored community in general, and mixed couple in particular. Additionally, The Bird also emphasized Fulton County's new Food Stamp system, the improvement in tax plan of the county, and not forgetting to mention advertisement section about coming up concert events and music albums recently.