APRIL 4, 2025 HISTORY GROUNDCOVER NEWS 60th anniversary of the marches from Selma to Montgomery: How 1965 Voting Rights Act was won WILL SHAKESPEARE Groundcover vendor No. 258 What is known as the famous “March from Selma to Montgomery” actually refers to three major marches. The distance between Selma and Montgomery, two cities in Alabama, is 54 miles. A determined group of civil rights activists decided to march from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery. The day was March 7, 1965. Approximately 600 people joined in the march from Selma across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The march was led by John Lewis, President of the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee, and Reverend Hosea Williams, a civil rights leader from Southern Christian Leadership Council. That day is described by historians and journalists as “Bloody Sunday.” Why? According to the online magazine Scenic America, “The group of 600 marchers was brutally attacked and forced back. Activist John Lewis had his skull fractured, and was one of the 58 people admitted to the hospital for injuries sustained during the event. The violence was shown on television and drew many civil rights and religious leaders for the next attempt.” The “Bloody Sunday” of March 7, 1965, was not successful in reaching Montgomery from Selma, but it was successful in awakening the consciousness of many Americans to the Black struggle for voting rights and other civil rights which a majority of the American citizens enjoyed and took for granted. Later, on March 9, more than 2,000 marchers attempted to march from Selma, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, to Montgomery. At night, they were stopped by sheriff deputies and a group of segregationists. Scenic America Magazine said a young white male was beaten to death for his peaceful protest. Selma to Montgomery marches timeline USA Today republished a March 5, 2015 article written by historian Rick Harmon of The Montgomery Advertiser. It provided a brilliant timeline of the Selma to Montgomery marches. We know that the March 7 “Bloody Sunday” march did not make it beyond the Edmund Pettus Bridge because of violence and brutality. John Lewis and other protestors were met by Alabama State troopers, some on horseback, and Sheriff Jim Clark and his deputies. Those Alabama State troopers and the Dallas County law enforcement officials met the marchers at the bridge and insisted that they disperse. We know what happened to the peaceful protestors when they refused to disperse. They were severely beaten up! According to USA Today, “The national coverage of the event galvanized the country, and King called for volunteers from throughout the nation to come to Selma for another march on March 9.” The March 9 march was led by Rev./ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When the marchers came to Pettus Bridge, local KKK members attacked them. Writing about this march, at which Dr. King asked protesters to disperse at the Pettus Bridge, writer Rick Harmon said, “James Reeb, a Unitarian Universalist minister who had come from Boston and marched in the protest earlier in the day, was beaten severely by KKK members. He died of head injuries two days later at the age of 38.” The March 9 event is described by historians as the “Turnaround Tuesday.” On March 15, President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress and showed his support for a Voting Rights Bill. He even quoted a popular civil rights mantra, “We Shall Overcome …” On March 8, 1965, the day after the “Bloody Sunday,” Attorney Fred Gray and SCLC filed a lawsuit titled, “Hosea Williams v George Wallace” before Judge Frank M. Johnson of the Montgomery U.S. District Court. The lawsuit was about the safety of marchers. On March 17, 1965, Judge Frank M. Johnson ruled in favor of the marchers’ rights. Judge Johnson’s favorable ruling took account of the U.S. Justice Department’s plan to protect peaceful protesters during the Selma-to-Montgomery march. On March 18, 1965, Wallace condemned Judge Johnson and said the State of Alabama would need federal government funding in order to provide security to the marchers. Subsequently, he sent a telegram to President Lyndon Johnson which asked for help with security for marchers. Writer Rick Harmon wrote, “March 20, 1965 — President Johnson issues an executive order authorizing the federal use of the Alabama National Guard to supply protection. He also sends 1,000 military policemen and 2,000 Army troops to escort the march from Selma.” He continued, “March 21, 1965 about 8,000 people assemble at Brown Chapel [in Selma] before starting the five-day march to Montgomery's capitol.” Dr. King had called for a third march on March 21 from Selma to Mongomery but only if marchers would be safe and protected. After District Judge Johnson’s ruling and President Johnson’s executive order, the movement and the march for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were back on track. The marchers were on the road again, walking 54 miles in five days. As documented by Rick Harmon in USA Today, on March 24, 1965, “Marchers rest[ed] at the city of St. Jude, a Catholic Church and School Complex on the outskirts of Montgomery, where Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Joan Baez, Sammy Davis Jr., Nina Simone, Frankie Laine and Peter, Paul, and Mary performed at a ‘Stars for Freedom’ rally.” Conclusion Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Educational Institute provides us with an excellent publication titled, “Selma to Montgomery March (March 21, 1965 to March 25, 1965).” It said that when thousands of non-violent demonstrators led by Martin Luther King arrived at the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, they were greeted by our nation’s Dreamerin-Chief: Dr. King. King gave an address which concluded the march from Selma to Montgomery. He said, “There never was a moment in American history more honorable and more inspiring than the pilgrimage of clergymen and laymen of every race and faith pouring into Selma to face danger at the side of its embattled Negroes.” Stanford Papers reported, “During the final rally, held on the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, King proclaimed: 'The end we seek is a society that can live with itself, a society that can live with its conscience. And that will be a day not of the white man, not of the black man. That will be the day of man as man.’” The Stanford Papers also noted that the Alabama Governor rebuffed a petition which the marchers attempted to deliver to him. At the conclusion of the events in Montgomery, ferry boats started to carry marchers back to Selma at night. Sadly, Mrs. Viola Luzzo who was described as a housewife from Michigan, “who had come to Alabama to volunteer, was shot by four Ku Klux Klan. [Civil rights activist and Federal prosecutor John] Doar later prosecuted three Klansmen for conspiring to violate her civil rights.” President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law on August 6, 1965. Dr. King and several civil rights leaders were present in the White House during the ceremony. President Johnson talked about his outrage over the violence and brutality in Selma. He said that the right to 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.” A few days later, during Dr. King’s annual address to the Southern Christian Leadership Council in his capacity as the President, he made the following observations: “Montgomery led the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and 1960; Birmingham inspired the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Selma produced the Voting Rights Legislation of 1965.” The Supreme Court’s June 25, 2013 decision on Holder v. Shelby County noted that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU said in 2013, that SCOTUS decision “swung open the door for states to enact restrictive voting laws, making it harder for people of color to vote.” Since 2023, millions of Americans have urged Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. What would this new legislation do? According to Wikipedia, “The bill would restore and strengthen parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, most notably, its requirement for states and jurisdictions with a history of voting rights violations to seek federal approval before enacting certain changes to their voting laws.” 15
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