The March from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 caused important advances in the civil rights movement and had a direct impact on legislation dealing with African-American voting rights. In Alabama, there were still many blockades keeping the African-American population from being able to register to vote. Segregation and “The Jim Crow Laws” were still in place in the South during the 1960s. Many people and groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played essential roles in the eventual success of protesting for voting rights in Alabama. The Selma to Montgomery Marches not only accomplished their goal of gaining voting rights for African-Americans, …show more content…
King had organized several civil disobedience protests with an overall goal of making it easier for African-Americans to register to vote in Alabama. At the time, registering to vote as an African-American was so difficult that only 300 of Selma’s population of 14,000 African-Americans had been registered to vote. All of the marches that were organized for voting rights were peaceful, yet in mid-February, one of these peaceful protests turned violent as protestor Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot by a state trooper. He died a couple of days after the protest, providing other protesters with a reason for news coverage and more reason to protest the racism in Alabama. Jimmy’s death sparked a flame, and before long, many new protests were …show more content…
This event gained lots of press coverage and incited protests from people all over the country who sympathized with the protesters in Alabama. President Lyndon B. Johnson also spoke out against police brutality and announced his intent to pass a voting rights bill because of the events that Sunday. Another protest formed as Dr. King invited people from all over the country to join in on a march to Montgomery two days later on March 9th. It was essential that Dr. King organized the next protest so soon after the events of Bloody Sunday so as to keep the press coverage on the issues in Alabama. The second march proceeded with around 2,000 people, but was also halted at Edmund Pettus Bridge by the Alabama government, although this time there were no casualties or violence during the
Protests, Marches and Civil disobedience which produced disruption and life-changing dialogue between insurgents, Government, and Political officials. Including Presidents Johnson and Kennedy, whom due to political instability granted the Politically endorsed concessions that gave Blacks Full Citizenship as voters, as well as ended Jim Crow and Segregation. To quell protests the Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and communities that were boycotted or Protested in often had to respond to the demands of Black Protesters. As previously mentioned protests and civil disobedience, consisted of Bus Boycotts in Montgomery, Alabama.
King chose to organize a different kind of protest known as a "Demonstration" that required the demonstrators to march silently up and down the hill. Sadly, throughout the entire process, negroes were judged, beaten, and killed for no apparent reason. He says “You warmly praised the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence. " I don't believe you would have so warmly praised the police force if you had seen its angry violent dogs biting six unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I don't believe you would so quickly commend the policemen if you would observe their ugly and inhuman treatment of Negroes here in the city jail, watching them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls, slapping and kicking old Negro men and young boys, or refusing to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, sworn into office after Kennedy was assassinated, becoming the 36th President of the United States. Johnson spoke in the House Chamber of the Capitol Building in a joint session of Congress that broadcasted live across the United States on March 15, 1965 in response to “Bloody Sunday”. Just a week before, on March 7, 1965, 600 people fighting for civil rights planned to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama but they were viciously attacked and some were killed with tear gas, whips, and nightsticks used by state troopers because they refused to leave. Johnson addressed Congress, American people, and Negroes in his speech.
The Death That Changed Voting On the night of February 18, 1965, Jimmie Lee Jackson was accompanied by two of his family members, Viola Jackson, his mother and Cager Lee, his paternal grandfather. They attended Zion’s Chapel Methodist Church in Marion, a town in Alabama, for a peaceful voting rights march. State Trooper James Bonard Fowler shot Jackson twice in the abdomen. The death of Jimmie Lee Jackson impacted the lives of many blacks and changed voting rights. Jimmie Lee Jackson was born on December 16, 1938 (#6 “Jimmie Lee Jackson”/Bio.com) in Marion, Alabama (#5 Jackson, Jimmie Lee (1938-1965)).
"African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings. " This definition of black resilience is best expressed throughout the civil rights movement and protests. The peaceful and violent protest throughout time will always be a historical turning point for black people seeking out freedom and being released from their oppression. In 1991, Rodney Glenn King was brutally beaten by Los Angeles police officers becoming a “symbol of police brutality and racial prejudice.
Participating in a protest, even the nonviolent kind, was a massive risk, and by partaking in one, a person could sacrifice many things. During the second Selma march, police were determined to stop the protestors and armed themselves with tear gas, clubs, and even police dogs. At the sight of the heavily armed police, unafraid to use their weapons against innocent people, Dr. King decided to turn around. He believed that the time was not right, and in the meantime, they should all pray and reflect on the purpose of the march before trying again. But for many, the urge for voting rights and equality was stronger than the desire to be safe.
This vessel of courage was met with what is now know as “Bloody Sunday” when marchers reached the end of the bridge and began to pray before they were beaten by Alabama’s state troopers. (Academy of Acheivment). The mass spread publicity from the violence of Bloody Sunday was broadcasted to the public. Consequently, this news sparked outrage in the country and the public demanded progression at the presidential level. Only a week after the outbreak, president Johnson appeared before congress to pass the Voting Rights Act that would enforce the voting rights of African Americans across the country (Academy of Achievement).
Martin Luther King Jr. appeals to the citizens of the United States to help support not just African-Americans, but fellow citizens and humans. Mr.King appeals to the people’s emotions and morale by exclaiming bystanders are not innocent. Those who turn away from the violence and hatred towards African-Americans are just as much to blame for the murders as those who are killing African-Americans in the streets. This riot had a significant role in the march from Selma to Montgomery and Selma utilized this event to portray just how big of an impact that civil rights played during this
He was murdered by the indifference of every white minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of his stained-glass windows. And he was murdered by the cowardice of every Negro who passively accepts the evils of segregation and stands on the sidelines in the struggle for justice” (Selma). And Jackson’s death is the most important material that created the march from Selma to Alabama State’s capital in Montgomery on the day of 7 March 1965. This march is one of the key point of the whole campaign, as
Campaigns such as the failure of peaceful protest in Albany, a heavily segregated city in the South, taught leaders of the movement such as Martin Luther King how to tackle future campaigns and what ideas should be implemented at Birmingham. Protests in Albany began in the early 1960s, when black students began voting registration drives, petitions and polls trying to bring about change regarding segregation. They called in Martin Luther King, who was regarded highly as a hero and a leader for the civil rights movement, to assist in encouraging and persuading people to become involved in the protesting. He led a march of 287 African-Americans through the town in an example of his famous peaceful protesting, and they were all arrested ‘peacefully’ too. Laurie Pritchett, the local head of law enforcement, treated the black prisoners from the protests in a kind and dignified way, and had the media report on how polite and peacefully he was treating the prisoners.
In March of 1965, thousands of Americans black and white began the 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery. All the men and women of the crowd had the same agenda of protesting in favor of Black Civil Rights, but along the way encountered state police who proceeded to brutally beat the crowd on national television1. As news of this horrific event spread through the screens and radios of America President Lyndon B. Johnson stood by creating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to ensure that every American regardless of Race or Gender could legally and without confliction have the right to vote. Shortly thereafter on March 15, 1965 Johnson took to the podium and in front of cabinet members and foreign ambassadors proceeded to deliver the speech
When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, lots of people thought it was a large step in the right direction for equal rights for all. This was not the case though because one hundred years after this important document was signed, the question of Civil Rights was still a massive topic of discussion because of the segregation and discrimination that the African Americans were being targeted with. One of the most influential African American leaders during this time was Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a large reason for why the Civil Rights Movement had such a large impact on the lives of African Americans. King took place in many events in society and had a big influence on the African American communities who were fighting
Many people felt that the government was not doing enough to protect civil rights activists, and that King's death was a direct result of this failure. As a result, there were riots and protests in over 100 cities across the country, and the National
The most eye opening case of racism during this period of the movement was the Selma to Montgomery march. The Selma to Montgomery march was conducted by Martin Luther King Jr. in response to the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a peaceful demonstrator fatally shot by an Alabama State Trooper during an attack on the group of white segregationists. King and his supporters planned to march from Selma to Montgomery, and refused to let anything stop the march. The group of 600 marched all the way to the Edmund Pettis Bridge and were met with resistance from Alabama State Troopers, armed with teargas and nightsticks. The troopers brutally beat the marchers and forced them all the way back to Selma, the entire scene being captured on national television, causing an uproar across the United States.
The action of one person can modify a whole country for generations to come. The Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956 was a pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement that ended segregation on public buses. Correspondingly, it impacted the lives of those who experienced it firsthand, as well as its lasting legacy in society today. Nevertheless, the Montgomery bus boycott had a lasting effect on the Civil Rights Movement by initiating one of the most significant nonviolent protests, contributing to the removal of racial restrictions, and influencing African American communities to fight against discrimination.