ATLANTA — Today marks the beginning of Black History Month.
Georgia was at the center of the fight for civil rights and throughout the decades, WSB has been committed to covering the movement.
Starting with the early career of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., WSB-TV has covered every moment of the civil rights movement.
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In 1957, WSB interviewed King right after the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded. King was president.
In 1963, Channel 2′s Ray Moore secured the first interview with King following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“I really feel that he was a friend to the cause of civil rights,” King said of Kennedy.
In 1964 during the peak of the movement, it was the beginning of John Pruitt’s decades-long career with WSB.
His first assignment was a pro-segregation rally where a white mob attacked young African-American protesters.
“What I had witnessed, what I had seen, what I was appalled by was on film. And it went around the country and in effect, around the world,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt and the WSB team knew they had a responsibility to show the world what was happening.
“It was seeing such as those seen around the country on almost a nightly basis that really propel the civil rights movement,” Pruitt said.
Some viewers wanted WSB to stop showing the racial divide of the south.
“There were phone calls which were very hate-filled,” former WSB reporter Dave Riggs said.
WSB’s coverage of the movement continued for decades, including the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama.
In March of 1965, civil rights demonstrators including John Lewis were beaten by state troopers.
Five months after the violence in Selma, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of that act.
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