Selma March
"We must be ready to march. We must be ready to go to jail by the thousands. ... Our cry to the state of Alabama is a simple one. Give us the ballot!"
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1965
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1965
Source: Sing for Freedom, Smithsonian Museum
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The watching nation was appalled by the unexpected brutality of the Alabama state troopers attacking the peaceful Selma marchers.
March to the Dallas County Courthouse (Feb-March 1965)
Protest outside Dallas County Courthouse
Source: "Eyes on the Prize" PBS |
"More than half of Dallas County [Selma] citizens were black but less than one percent were registered by 1965...few blacks would get in [the courthouse] and getting in was not a guarantee of being registered" - "Eyes on the Prize" documentary by PBS |
"I knew the feelings that were out there on the streets. The people of Selma were hurting. They were angry. They needed to march. It didn't matter to me who led it. They needed to march."
- Congressman John Lewis, 1965
- Congressman John Lewis, 1965
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First March - Bloody Sunday (March 7, 1965)
Source: Civil Rights Movement Veterans Website
"Shame on you George Wallace for the wet ropes that bruised the muscles, for the bull whips that cut the flesh, for the clubs that broke the bones and for the tear gas that seared the eyes...and choked people into insensibility. This is not the American way."
- Texas Sen. Ralph W. Yarborough, March 8, 1965
- Texas Sen. Ralph W. Yarborough, March 8, 1965
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Second March (March 9, 1965)
Second face-off between marchers and troopers
Source: "Eyes on the Prize", Episode 6, PBS documentary |
"Here a group of people both black and white said to us, 'we are here to stand with the people of Selma in this struggle to get the right to vote..." - Rev. Fredrick D. Reese |
Peaceful return of the marchers
Source: "Eyes on the Prize", Episode 6, PBS documentary |
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Third March from Selma to Montgomery (March 21 - 25, 1965)
Final march to Montgomery
Source: Civil Rights Movement Veterans |
"... The attempted march alongside U.S. Highway 80 ... involved nothing more than a peaceful effort on the part of Negro citizens to exercise a classic constitutional right: that is, the right to assemble peaceably and petition one's government for the redress of grievances ..." - Judge Frank Johnson. |
"When we finished singing "We Shall Overcome," we started off and went to the bridge and there were soldiers with rifles and bayonets everywhere, protecting us. Well, when we crossed that bridge and started on down the road for Montgomery, the people just seemed like something had been lifted from their shoulders. They were so proud, but it was a pride that was dignified. We had always maintained that dignity..."
- Sheyann Webb, 8th grader at the time |
Final march to Montgomery
Source: Civil Rights Movement Veterans |
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John Lewis, Voting Rights Activist, SNCC
Source: archive.org |
"We wanted to raise the issue of voting to the point where we could take it outside of the Black Belt [counties] ... We were using Selma as a way to shake Alabama ... so that it would no longer be a Selma issue or even an Alabama issue but a national issue and that's what we did" - Rev. C.T. Vivian. SCLC |