The Voting Rights March From Selma
The year 1965 in Selma Alabama was a year of protest and violence as the national media covered an ugly confrontation involving hundreds of religious leaders The Alabama highway patrolmen, The Dallas County Sheriffs Dept. and thousands of protesters and citizens.
The stage was set
Prior to 1965 In Selma there were less than 2% of eligible African Americans registered to vote. Skirting the provisions of the fifteenth amendment many southern states discriminated against black voters by the unequal application of poll taxes, literacy and competency test. Voting rights was a hot button issue among civil rights leaders and by January of 1965 it had gained national attention and was focused on Selma.
On January 5, 1965 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. launched a protest rally at Brown Chapel AME Church and in his State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson listed voting rights for all citizens as a priority of his administration
Protest Escalated
During February the protest were escalating. Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) ministers Ira Blalock and Gordon Gibson joined with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Selma to organize protest demonstrations.
On February 5, over 100 Black schoolteachers defied the superintendent’s orders and staged a voting rights protest at the Dallas County Courthouse. On February 10, Dr. King was arrested along with 500 school children. While he was in jail Dr King received a telegram from UUA president Dr. Dana McLean Greeley commending him for his commitment to nonviolence.
By the end of February the protest become violent. In an attempt to put down the protest Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark expelled 165 black teens from town. On February 26, Jimmy Lee Jackson was fatally shot by a state trooper during a protest march in nearby Marion. The first march to Montgomery planned by the SCLC was announced at the memorial service to Jimmy Lee.
Bloody Sunday
March 7, 1965 the SCLC and SNCC begin their planned protest march from Selma to Montgomery The demonstrators Led by Hosea Williams were attacked and beaten by highway patrolmen and county sheriff deputies in an attempt to cross the Edmond Pettus Bridge leading out of town toward Montgomery. TV news footage of the violence catapulted Selma onto the world stage and brought a flood of national support for the protest. At the bequest of Dr. King religious leaders and activist from around the country converged on Selma for a second attempt to cross the bridge and march to Montgomery. Among them was UUA Minister James Reeb.
The Second March
On March 11, over 2,000 African Americans and black leaders made a symbolic second march across the Edmond Pettus Bridge. That night James Reeb was fatally wounded by a group of segregationist near a whites only restaurant and died 2 day later.
Reeb’s death sparked further outrage. On March 16, President Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to introduce the Voting Rights Bill. Dr. king spoke to several hundred religious leaders at Browns Chapel. Sheriff Deputies on horseback violently confronted black and white demonstrators in Montgomery. Thousands demonstrated in front of the White House and demonstrations were held in several major cities.
The March To Montgomery
On March 21, 1965 under protection of the National Guard the March to Montgomery included over 3,000 marchers. They were joined along the way by over 25,000 who arrived at the capital on March 26, to hear a speech by Dr king. That night Viola Liuzzo, wife of a Detroit Teamsters Union business agent was shot while transporting marchers back to Selma.
Epilogue
Four Ku Klux Klansmen were arrested for Mr. Luzzo’s murder but were acquitted. Three men were indicted for the murder of James Reeb and were acquitted.
On August 20, 1965 President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law.
Throughout the year The SCLC conducted voter registration campaigns in Alabama
November 5, 1965 a Lowndes county sheriffs deputy shot Episcopal seminarian Jonathan Daniels of New Hampshire, and Chicago priest Father Richard Morrisroe. Daniels died instantly and Morissroe was seriously injured of shotgun wounds. They had just been released from a week in jail for participating in demonstrations. The deputy was acquitted of murder charges
The UUA erected memorials for Reeb, Daniels and Jackson at Browns Chapel. A fund was established to purchase a home for Jackson’s Mother.
The Brown Chapel AME church is well known for its part in the Voting Rights struggle and is now a major tourist attraction.
In 1996 by act of Congress the Selma to Montgomery highway U.S. 80 was designated a National Historic Trail.
Other heroes of the movement are too numerous to mention here but all of their contributions are appreciated.
by George Elliot. All rights reserved.
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