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Film Description
A City Decides (1956)
Sponsor: Fund for the Republic. Production Co.: Charles Guggenheim & Associates. Director/Producer: Charles Guggenheim. Transfer Note: Scanned from a 16mm print held by the Library of Congress. Running Time: 28 minutes.
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 noteworthy 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.
Resources
Howard Thompson, “The 16mm Honor Roll,” New York Times, 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.