Black community leaders including Thomas McNeal, Phil Morrow, Dave Holmes, John Jackson, and Muriel Johnson sit at a table to discuss issues facing their communities. They talk about problems faced by black communities in the City of Hartford, including police community relations, poor housing conditions, governmental representation, racism in schools, communication within the black community, the experience of the riots, and employment and accessibility to downtown urban renewal projects such as the Civic Center, the Windsor Street project, and Constitution Plaza. Leaders advocate for finding a “common ground” within the black community and among poor people and a commitment by government and community leaders to making changes in the community around the issues that need attention.
Muriel Johnson, born in 1933 and raised in the North End of Hartford, was a community activist for the majority of her adult life, passing away at the age of 39 in 1972. She was a major player in the Council of Twelve, a community committee that formed to demand a community voice to the federally-backed Model Cities Program which was taken on by the City of Hartford in the 1960s. This is one of a number of 1969 documentary-style films in the collection of Hartford Black Panther Party co-founder, Butch Lewis. The films were directed and filmed by Canadian filmmaker Julian Biggs and assistant Baylis Glascock. . They document various Hartford black and Puerto Rican community leaders and communities as well as white governmental and business leaders discussing issues facing poor communities in the City of Hartford. Issues include urban renewal, housing, employment, education, and governmental representation.