quote “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.” -President Lyndon B. Johnson

Registered voters in 1962 Montgomery County, Alabama: 30,800 whites and 3,200 blacks “We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.” MLK “I have A Dream”

Bloody Sunday March 7, 1965 Selma, Alabama

Background Selma population: 15,400 blacks; 14, 900 whites Voting population: 99% white. 1% black Literacy Tests: mandatory to register to vote $2 poll tax January 1965: MLK led 400 marchers into the Selma courthouse and demanded the right to register to vote. Sheriff Clark arrested those who passed the literacy tests February 1965: MLK led more marchers into the courthouse. He and 250 other marchers were arrested. In one week 3000 marchers were arrested.

Jimmie Lee Jackson is killed by State Troopers in Marion, AL It was evening at the Mount Zion Church on February 18th & 200 voting rights protestors attended a meeting to start a nighttime march Jimmie Lee Jackson, a native of Marion and a quiet minister student, was there. The police waited outside. They turned off all the street lights. As Jimmy and the marchers left the church the troopers attacked. Jackson was shot in the stomach by a trooper at Mack’s Café while protecting his mother and grandfather from a beating. He died February 26, 1965. Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his eulogy.

The March King planned a march to honor Jimmy and draw attention to voting rights. It was planned for Sunday, March 7. Governor Wallace issued an injunction to stop the march. The highway patrol was put on alert. King met with President Johnson March 5 to ask for federal assistance in getting voting rights. Threats were made on his life, so King went home to Georgia to preach at his church. Hosea Williams took his place as the SCLC representative and John Lewis, head of SNCC, led the march with him.

Bloody Sunday MARCH 7, 1965 500-600 voting rights activists began a 51 mile march from Selma to Montgomery in honor of Jimmie Lee Jackson Marchers walked less than a mile and crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge State troopers met the demonstrators on the other side of the bridge.

In less than a minute the marchers heard these words… “This is an unlawful assembly. Your march is not conducive to the public safety. You are ordered to disperse and go back to your church or you house” -Major John Cloud

“I saw people being beaten and I began to Marchers did not turn around fast enough. Police and state troopers shot tear gas into the crowd and brutally beat the demonstrators with clubs. Some marchers were trampled by horse-mounted police. “I saw people being beaten and I began to try to run home as fast as I could.” -Sheyann Webb

Marchers were attacked in less than a minute.

Bloody Sunday Continued John Lewis asked marchers not to fight back. Lewis was hit in the head with a bat and had a concussion. People were tear-gassed, whipped, trampled, & clubbed. They were chased over the bridge back to church and beaten. Seventeen were hospitalized. Forty treated for tear-gas & minor injuries.

was the slap of billy clubs.” “They say beneath Pettus Bridge that every wild flower spread out its petals to catch the blood drops . . . But on Pettus Bridge the only thing heard was the slap of billy clubs.” -Amin Sharif

Results: Turnaround Tuesday Dr. King makes a public appeal to religious leaders to come to Selma and march Within two days of Bloody Sunday demonstrators in 80 different cities held marches as symbols of solidarity 1500 including ministers, priests, nuns, and rabbis descend on Selma on Tuesday March 9 The state forbids the second march and issues an injunction King leads marchers from the Brown AME Zion Chapel over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and is met by armed troopers He kneels, prays and turns around.

Federal Support President Lyndon Baines Johnson addressed the nation to tell of his Civil Rights Voting Bill on March 15… His speech became known as the “We Shall Overcome” speech. The third march is granted.

“It is wrong to do violence to peaceful citizens in the streets of their town, it is wrong to deny Americans the right to vote… What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and State of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome." Lyndon Johnson

The Third March from Selma to Montgomery

3200 marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 21, 1965.

Federalized troops were sent to guard marchers.

Harlem marches in support America supports the March Writers and singers America supports the March Veterans MLK leads

The Third March: Montgomery: On March 25 the marchers grew in number to 25,000.

How Long? Not Long.

“How long will it take? (Speak, sir) … “How long will prejudice blind the visions of men… When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South… “How long will justice be crucified, (Speak) and truth bear it?" (Yes, sir)… “…it will not be long, (No sir) because "truth crushed to earth will rise again." (Yes, sir) How long? Not long, (Yes, sir) because "no lie can live forever." (Yes, sir) How long? Not long, (All right. How long) because "you shall reap what you sow." (Yes, sir) How long? (How long?) Not long: (Not long)”

the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It gave any American over the age of 21 to be able to vote. It outlawed literacy tests It provided for registration of voters in areas that had less than 50% of eligible minority voters registered During the next four years the number of African Americans who registered to vote rose from 23 to 61 percent

Results: Selma’s African American registered voters increased from 320 to 6289 in two weeks!! Percent of eligible blacks increased in many of the southern states Alabama- 53% Louisiana- 60% Mississippi- 44%