Selma March

Setting the scene

The Selma to Montgomery marches took place in March 1965 to demand voting rights for African Americans in Alabama. Despite the 15th Amendment, Black voters faced poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence. In Selma, where 50% of the population was Black, only 2% were registered to vote. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by Martin Luther King Jr., organized marches from Selma to the state capital Montgomery.

What happened

The first march on March 7, 1965—'Bloody Sunday'—saw 600 marchers attacked by state troopers and sheriff's deputies on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Police beat marchers with clubs and tear gas, hospitalizing 17. The violence was broadcast on national television, shocking the nation. A second march on March 9 turned back to avoid violence. After a federal judge approved, the third march began March 21 with 3,200 people, growing to 25,000 by the time they reached Montgomery on March 25.

Why it still matters

The Selma marches directly led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed August 6, which banned literacy tests and provided federal oversight of elections in discriminatory states. The marches demonstrated the power of nonviolent protest and television to create political change. The Edmund Pettus Bridge became an iconic site of the civil rights movement. Selma showed that the right to vote, central to democracy, required federal protection against state-sponsored suppression—a lesson relevant to voting rights debates today.

Background

The Voting Rights Act followed.