The movement for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, began years before the events of March 7, 1965, and the Selma to Montgomery march that became known as Bloody Sunday. Black citizens attempting to exercise their rights along with activists fighting for justice faced hostile opposition across the South. But ordinary people chose to challenge an unjust system through nonviolent direct action, risking their lives to achieve democratic change for themselves and future generations. This is the legacy of Selma.
Excerpted from the previously published film guide about Selma, this learning journey explores the historical context, timeline of events in Selma, and the change that was achieved. It addresses such questions as: Why were Black citizens throughout the South ready to risk their lives to secure their right to vote? How did young people make a difference? What does it take to end deeply ingrained injustice?
“I was 11 years old in 1965 on that bridge. March 7th, 1965, to be exact. That day went down in history as Bloody Sunday. … When it started, I was terrified, horrified to see people laying bleeding. And then the tear gas got me, so I panicked, and we were trying to get back across the bridge.”
– Jo Ann Bland, from “The Strength of Ordinary People”
Watch the interview with Jo Ann Bland, who, as a child, participated in the Selma, Alabama, march that became known as Bloody Sunday.
Historical Background of the Civil Rights Movement
After the Civil War, Congress passed and the required number of states ratified three changes to the Constitution: the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. Collectively, these have become known as the Reconstruction Amendments because they were made into law during the post-Civil War period called the Reconstruction. These amendments served two main purposes: to establish the terms under which the seceded states of the Confederacy would return to the Union, and to extend freedom and full citizenship to the African Americans who had been held in slavery. On paper, these amendments promised equality.
The 13th Amendment abolished the system of chattel slavery that had existed in the United States and that had previously been allowed under the Constitution. Upon taking effect, enslaved persons became freed people, but what that meant exactly was unclear. Were they citizens? Did they have the same freedoms as other Americans? Could they vote?
The 14th Amendment settled the question of citizenship for freed African Americans: if they were born in the United States, they were “natural-born” citizens. States were forbidden to abridge their “privileges and immunities” — widely understood to include the right to vote. And, with the “due process” and “equal protection” clauses, freed African Americans were promised legal treatment equal to everyone else.
Three other sections of the amendment cleared up other post-war matters by negating the three-fifths clause of the Constitution and allowing formerly slave-holding states to have representation in Congress proportional to the full population of the state. States that denied the vote to the newly freed Black men, however, would not enjoy the increased number of representatives. Finally, the amendment disqualified ex-Confederates from holding office and repudiated the Confederate debt. The right to vote is implied in the 14th Amendment, but it is not stated explicitly.
Finally, with the addition of the 15th Amendment, questions about the voting rights of freedmen were clarified. Race, color or previous enslavement could not be used by states to deprive any male over the age of 21 the right to vote.
The Reconstruction amendments brought a brief glimpse of freedom. Within five years of the end of the Civil War, four million people were no longer enslaved, were affirmed as citizens and were guaranteed the right to vote. In many Southern states, Black men were elected to high office, and Black legislators helped write new state constitutions. Fourteen African Americans served in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1870 and 1876.
But the promise of full political equality was soon broken. White supremacists and ex-Confederates used a combination of means to re-establish their power in the South. By the mid-1870s, the federal government retreated from rebuilding the South or protecting the rights of former enslaved people. In 1877, Reconstruction was effectively over and the reforms that it had brought to the South began to erode.
Black people lost the rights to travel freely, to use public transportation and to attend integrated schools. Most importantly, Black men lost the right to vote. The Ku Klux Klan, formed by Confederate veterans, used terrorism and violence to maintain white supremacy. Between 1885 and 1901 alone, more than 2,000 African Americans were lynched by Klan members or their affiliates.
By the early 20th century, a brutal and degrading system of segregation had taken root throughout the South. “Jim Crow” laws required Black people to use separate — and inferior — facilities in every aspect of life. The Supreme Court approved Jim Crow segregation in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, when it ruled that separate facilities were legal as long as they were equal. The ruling gave the green light to Southern legislatures to enact laws and uphold policies to enforce white supremacy. In practice, separate was never equal.
These Southern legislatures also created a system of laws that made it virtually impossible for Black men — and later, women — to vote. More than that, the informal system of white supremacy made it dangerous to try. Elaborate regulations limited Black voting, and anyone who tried to defy the system was punished, often brutally. Attacks on Black voters were common, but they were not the only tactic used to keep African Americans away from the polls. Southern legislatures had passed laws requiring voters to pay poll taxes, and these kept the rural poor, Black and white, disenfranchised. White voters whose ancestors had voted prior to the Civil War were exempted from the literacy and civics tests that Black would-be voters were required to take. Registrars applied the tests arbitrarily and unequally, and were not required to explain why someone attempting to register might be rejected.
In Dallas County, Alabama, local officials made it inconvenient and difficult to register to vote. The office was open only during business hours on the first and third Monday of each month. New registrants needed someone already registered to vouch for them, and registered voters were limited in the number of people for whom they could vouch each year.
Economic power was a further barrier to voter registration. White employers and landowners were likely to punish Black citizens who dared to register by firing them or throwing them off the farms they worked on as sharecroppers. For example, in Selma, employees of a local nursing home were fired in 1963 for trying to register to vote. In many towns, newspapers printed the names of all voter applicants, which made the job of intimidation even easier.
And yet, in the face of all these obstacles, Black people in Selma — especially Black youth — joined together and used nonviolent action strategies to disrupt the system and gain the right to participate fully in civic life.
The Movement for Justice and Equality in Selma, Alabama
In Selma, as in other communities, people began organizing for action during the pivotal years of the Civil Rights Movement. The Dallas County Voters League (DCVL) encouraged Black citizens to register to vote, but fear kept most would-be registrants at home. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) began organizing high school students, and soon the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) joined the efforts. Selma would no longer be a little-known city in Alabama. As the nation watched, it became a key battleground in the struggle for equality.
But why Selma? Black and white students attended separate schools and most public places remained segregated even after passage the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Selma had a locally organized justice movement, led largely by the DCVL; a history of student demonstrations, thanks to SNCC; and the city’s Black leaders were ready to welcome assistance from the SCLC. Most importantly, the hardline tactics of Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark guaranteed arrests that would attract the national spotlight.
- Watch: The PBS series Eyes on the Prize offers an accessible introduction to key ideas, figures and moments in civil rights history. The episode “Bridge to Freedom (1965)” focuses on the bloody march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Timeline of Events
1963
February — Bernard Lafayette, from SNCC, arrived in Selma to organize youth.
September — Members of the Ku Klux Klan bombed Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four girls.
September/October — Teens in Selma reacted to the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church by protesting at Carter’s
Drug Store. Willie Robinson was beaten, and four students were arrested.
October 7 — Freedom Day, an all-out effort to register Selma voters, led to arrests and brutal use of force by Sheriff Jim Clark.
Late 1963 — In response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Diane Nash, James Bevel and James Orange planned the Alabama Project, a voting rights campaign.
1964
July 2 — President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
July 9 — Alabama State Circuit Court Judge James Hare issued an injunction that forbid three or more people from publicly meeting in Selma in support of civil rights.
Late 1964 — The DCVL invited the SCLC and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to come to Selma to support voting rights.
1965
January 2 — Over 700 people defied the Hare injunction by attending a mass meeting at Brown Chapel, where Dr. King spoke.
January 18 — Three hundred people, half of them high school students, attended a morning song service. Marches began when the voter registration office opened.
January 19 — Sheriff Clark beat and arrested Amelia Boynton, a founder of the DCVL and a key Selma organizer.
January 19-21 — Activists, including children, continued to march despite the sheriff’s tactics, such as the use of cattle prods.
January 22 — More than 100 Black teachers joined the movement, marching from Clark Elementary School to the Selma courthouse. After being beaten back by club-wielding officers, they returned to Brown Chapel, where 300 students greeted them jubilantly.
January 25-29 — Every day, hundreds of Black voter registration applicants waited at the courthouse; mass arrests followed. Alabama Gov. George Wallace dispatched 50 state troopers to reinforce Sheriff Clark’s men.
February 1 — Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy, who helped King organize nonviolent protest campaigns since 1955, led an adult march from Brown Chapel to the Selma courthouse. Both were arrested.
February 2-3 — More than 2,000 civil rights protesters were arrested in Selma since January 18. In cities across the country, activists organized demonstrations and sit-ins in support of those fighting for civil rights in Selma.
February 4 — President Johnson issued a statement in support of voting rights.
February 5 — C.T. Vivian, a member of the SCLC’s executive staff, led a group of adult activists to the courthouse; they were arrested. Following the adults’ arrests, 450 students approached the courthouse and were arrested as well. In Dallas and Perry counties, 3,850 civil rights activists were arrested to date. Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy were released on bail.
February 9 — Dr. King met with President Johnson, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and Attorney General Nicholas B. Katzenbach in Washington, D.C. President Johnson promised voting legislation soon.
February 10 — With leaders in jail, students began self-organizing. One hundred and sixty protested at the courthouse, where Sheriff Clark’s men, using batons and cattle prods, forced the young marchers out of town and down isolated country roads.
February 15 — Voter registration offices were open for the last time in February; 1,500 activists participated in the largest march to date in Selma.
February 18 — In the nearby city of Marion, state troopers joined Sheriff Clark’s men and swarmed the town. They arrested James Orange for “contributing to the delinquency of minors” by encouraging students to march and sing freedom songs. Civil rights supporters planned a short nighttime march to sing to Orange in jail. Police and state troopers attacked and pursued fleeing marchers, including Jimmie Lee Jackson, into Mack’s Café. Jackson is shot by state trooper Jim Fowler and brought to Good Samaritan Hospital in Selma.
February 26 — Jimmie Lee Jackson died in Selma.
March 3 — R.B. Hudson High School students boycotted classes to attend Jimmie Lee Jackson’s funeral service. Dr. King’s sermon pointed at police brutality and the timidity of the federal government. Dr. King announced the plan to bring the issue to Gov. Wallace’s doorstep with a march from Selma to Montgomery. Gov. Wallace ordered state troopers to prevent the march.
March 6 — Concerned White Citizens of Alabama, a group led by Rev. Joseph Ellwanger of Birmingham, marched in support of civil rights, the first pro-civil rights action taken by white activists in the area.
March 7 — Over 600 protesters left Brown Chapel and crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. At the far side, they were met by 50 riot-geared state troopers on horseback, along with Sheriff Clark’s deputies and several dozen of his “posse.” As the marchers knelt to pray, the troopers charged into the crowd, clubbing people and firing tear gas. Many marchers, including children, were severely injured during the attack and 17 were sent to the hospital. The footage of what became known as Bloody Sunday aired on national television, focusing the eyes of the nation on Selma. Dr. King issued a nationwide call for people of conscience to come to Selma and march on March 9.
March 8 — SCLC lawyers filed a motion before U.S. District Court Judge Frank Johnson in Montgomery to prevent the state of Alabama from blocking the march. SNCC, the DCVL and the SCLC pressured the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House to protect the march and to take action on a voting rights bill. Supporters around the country demonstrated in support of the Selma marchers. In Selma, thousands of activists flooded Brown Chapel. State troopers massed in the city as well.
March 9 — Judge Johnson issued an injunction against the march, which Dr. King decided to obey. Dr. King led 2,000 people to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, knelt to pray, and turned the march around. That night, three ministers who traveled to Selma to support the movement were attacked. Minister James Reeb was the most seriously injured.
March 10 — News of the attack on James Reeb prompted more voting rights demonstrations around the country. Pressure mounted on Washington, D.C. Selma police surrounded the George Washington Carver Homes to contain marchers. Protesters dubbed the police line the “Berlin Wall.” Judge Johnson began hearings to decide whether to allow the march.
March 11 — James Reeb died.
March 15 — President Johnson addressed the nation and a joint session of Congress to propose a sweeping voting rights act.
March 17 — Judge Johnson ruled in favor of the marchers and ordered Gov. Wallace to protect the march to the capital.
March 21 — Thousands of marchers departed from Brown Chapel in Selma and headed for Montgomery, planning to stop at campsites along the way.
March 25 — In the final four miles of the march, the group grew to 25,000 people. Montgomery was eerily quiet: Gov. Wallace had urged white people to stay home, proclaiming a “danger holiday” for the state’s white female employees. Dr. King delivered his “Our God Is Marching On” address. Later that night, Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights activist, was killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan after leaving the protest.
August 6 — President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Act forbid literacy tests; empowered the U.S. Department of Justice and federal courts to monitor problem jurisdictions; and, most importantly, required jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to receive federal approval before they can make any changes in voting procedures or requirements.
December — The number of registered Black voters in Dallas County grew from 383 before passage of the Voting Rights Act to about 9,000, slightly more than half the Black voting-age population. Across the South, the number of Black voters rose to approximately 250,000 by the end of the year.
The story of the Selma-to-Montgomery march, like all stories in the Civil Rights Movement, is much more than an isolated chapter in our history. The voting rights movement illustrates how citizens in our democracy can use the rights guaranteed them in the First Amendment to contest injustice. It shows the power of activism and nonviolent action to challenge oppressive systems. And the movement illustrates young people’s energy and momentum in engaging in action that can lead to social change.
Reflection and Action
1. Considering Strategies: Nonviolent Direct Action
- Why was nonviolent action so effective, and what unique leverage does nonviolent resistance have in the face of power and force?
- What kinds of planning, organizing and communication are required to take action and bring about change? Is participating in a demonstration enough?
- What role did the media — mainly newspapers and television — play in bringing about awareness and public support for change in the South?
2. Making Connections: Past and Present
- What parallels exist between events of the early 1960s and events today?
- How did people in power use laws, custom and procedures to maintain a status quo that favored them? What are some examples of people in power using these tactics today?
- Why did young people join the movement when so many adults hesitated?
- What effect did the Civil Rights Movement have on racial discrimination and injustice? In what ways was it successful? In what ways do racial discrimination and injustice still exist?