While producing the CPTV original documentary "The 60s in Connecticut," numerous interviews were conducted totaling over one hundred hours of footage. While only a small portion appears in the documentary, we are posting the interviews in their entirety to share the rich content with viewers.
Interview Synopsis:
Patricia Kelly, a black teenager living in Hartford during the 1960s, shares her experiences growing up in the city during the civil rights movement when racial tensions were high.
Being the grand-daughter of former slaves, her family has a long history of living with discrimination and injustice. Ms. Kelly does, however believe that “If grownups would leave kids alone, most of the problems could go away.”
Ms. Kelly’s family was only the second black family to move into her neighborhood. She remembers all the kids, regardless of color, mostly getting along. It was when adults got involved, that trouble started. She also recalls Yale and Trinity college students forming an organization in her neighborhood to fight discrimination.
Patricia Kelly and her father travelled to Washington DC to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak on the mall. She recalls the crowded space feeling like a "cocoon of community." She shares her feelings about Dr. King’s assassination and why the death of a man who’s message was peace could result in so much rage and violence. Watch Patricia Kelly and many others in the CPTV documentary “The 60’s in Connecticut.”