I worked as a field secretary with the emphasis on photojournalism.
The education and experience I received allowed me to enter the fray on a level that opened up apprenticeship programs in the IATSE cameraman's union and the major networks ABC, CBS, NBC for all minorities.
I filed suits in Federal Court aginst the offending parties and forced them to open their rolls to minorities and women.
With the passage of Civil Rights Legislation my son became the first and only Lifeguard employed by the state of California and went on to be a Fireman. One daughter is now an executive in Kaiser/Permanente. Another is an architect.
Two of my sons are in the entertainment business and have been accepted by their respective Unions as full members, and one son is a marine biologist.
When I produced my first film in Lowndes County, Alabama, Delta Airlines deliberately delayed my dailies and lost valuable equipment. Years later a black employee at the Atlanta airport said: "Mr. Vaughs, you may travel first class on todays flight."
We are all able to participate in the political life of the country in a meaningful way; not remotely possible prior to our engagement in the Civil Rights Movement.
Thats' me and Stokeley in the Life magazine picture taken at the demonstrations in Cambridge, Maryland. (Enter my name in the "google" search machine.)
I've been living as an ex-patriate since the early seventies.
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