Louisiana Diary

Please note: copyright to Louisiana Diary is held by WNET. All rights reserved. WNET is the premier public media provider of the New York metropolitan area and parent of public television stations THIRTEEN and WLIW21. Louisiana Diary was originally produced by KQED for National Educational Television (NET) - the predecessor of WNET - and first aired in 1964. Written and directed by Richard O. Moore (who described the experience in a 2012 interview), this film follows the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from July to August 1963, as they undertake an African American voter registration drive in the town of Plaquemine, Louisiana (Iberville Parish). Includes scenes of: citizens undergoing mock interrogations at voter education clinics; CORE members canvassing from house to house; civil rights meetings in Baptist Churches; a mass march and vigil; police tear gassing crowds and making arrests; interviews with Ronnie Moore (Field Secretary for CORE in Louisiana) and Mama Joe Homes; a speech by James L. Farmer, Jr. (National Secretary of CORE) and views of a Plaquemine contingent getting on a bus, heading for the August 28th 1963 civil rights march on Washington, DC. Narrated by Moore, the film adds a postscript that on October 17th 1963, Reverend Joseph Carter became the first African American who successfully registered to vote in the West Feliciana Parish of Louisiana.