Selma Voting Rights Movement Research Paper

Selma voting rights campaign occurred on March 7th to March 25th in 1965. The main objective of this event that took place was targeted toward African American citizen’s right to vote. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. held a mass meeting in Brown Chapel. From then on, many groups and other organization join Martin Luther King Jr. The groups that joined are, Dallas County Voters League (DCVL), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). These organizations came together and fought for their constitutional right to vote. During the whole campaign three marches took place. The first march occurred on March 7, 1965, it was also know as “Bloody Sunday”. The second march took place on March …show more content…
The reason why they focus on Selma was because Sheriff Jim Clark has a background of being brutal while enforcing local law with an unjust cause against African Americans. With the way Jim Clark acted, they use it to attract national attention. As an outcome, it will pressure President Johnson and the congress to enact a new national voting right. While the campaign has barely begun, there were many African Americans being arrested. Surprisingly the amount of violence was very minimal on the account of people being arrested. However, the amount of nonviolent protesters being arrested still continues to rise as time goes on. One night, a state trooper shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, a twenty six-year-old church deacon from Marion. He was attacked while attempted to protect his mother from getting hit with a club. Just eight days later he died from the wound he has receive from the state trooper. Outraged, the activist in Selma and Marion set out on the first march in Selma Voting …show more content…
At this time Martin Luther King Jr. was in Atlanta. The march started in Selma and was suppose to stop at the state capitol in Montgomery. When they reach the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they saw a blockade of state troopers who were instructed by Jim Clark and Major John Cloud. Clark and Cloud ordered the people in the march to disband. Of course the marchers would not yield, so Jim Clark ordered his men to force them to disperse. They used clubs and tear gases against the unarmed organizations. Bevel, Amelia Bonyton, and many others also organized the first march. The reason why the first march was called Bloody Sunday was due to how six hundred marchers were assaulted at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The incident was televised on national television. Many state troopers and county people who were against the march, ganged up against the African Americans. Among one of them, Amelia Boynton, an American woman that lead the group, was beaten unconscious. Not only Boynton was assaulted, Lewis was also severely beaten. One of his famous quotes was “I don’t see how President Johnson can send troops to Vietnam…I don’t see how he can send troops to the Congo… I don’t see how he can send troops to Africa and can’t send troops to Selma,” (Reed, ‘‘Alabama Police Use Gas’’). After when Martin Luther King Jr. heard about the incident, he sent out telegrams and public statements bringing in religious leaders from all over the