Jimmie Lee Jackson was a part of the Civil Rights Movement but after participating in a peaceful protest in Alabama in February 1965, he was shot by a state trooper. He died a few days later on February 26,1965. His death was another inspiration to the first voting rights march.
Martin Luther King Jr planned their first march from Selma to Montgomery and gathered around 600 people, it was called a demonstration. Marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama was their way of speaking out their voting rights. They believed that fighting with peace is more powerful than fighting with hatred. They started the March in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday March 7, 1965. The demonstrators made their way to the end of Edmunds Pettus Bridge until they were blocked by Alabama State Troopers and local police who told them to turn around. When the protestors refused, the officers shot teargas, and started beating the nonviolent protesters with billy clubs. The Alabama State Troopers and police ended up hospitalizing over fifty demonstrators. March 7th, 1965 then became known as "Bloody Sunday". "Bloody Sunday" was televised around the world which left a lot of people enraged when they saw the police hurting the nonviolent demonstrators. The violence on "Bloody Sunday" made more Americans favor civil rights, and made it possible to pass 1965's Voting Rights Act. "There is no sound more powerful than the marching of feet of determined people" - Martin Luther King jr |
“I wasn’t looking for notoriety [when we marched]. But if that’s what it took [to get attention], I didn’t care how many licks I got. It just made me even more determined to fight for our cause.” Martin Luther King Jr then called for a second march. Martin Luther King led the second protest on March 9, 1965 with more than 2,000 civil rights demonstrators but then got turned around on Highway 80 by Alabama State Troopers except this time there was no violence. Martin Luther King called for civil rights supporters to come to Selma for a third and hopeful successful march. The members of Congress aggreed to let the protesters have federal protection. Finally, on March 21st, King led 3,200 demonstrators to a successful march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, thanks to the help of having federal protection. |