Why did the march start in Selma?
SCLC had chosen to focus its efforts in Selma because they anticipated that the notorious brutality of local law enforcement under Sheriff Jim Clark would attract national attention and pressure President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress to enact new national voting rights legislation.
Where did the Selma march start and end?
When about 600 people started a planned march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, on Sunday March 7, 1965, it was called a demonstration. When state troopers met the demonstrators at the edge of the city by the Edmund Pettus Bridge, that day became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Why were the people marching?
When did Selma happen?
March 7, 1965
Fifty years ago, on March 7, 1965, hundreds of people gathered in Selma, Alabama to march to the capital city of Montgomery. They marched to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote — even in the face of a segregationist system that wanted to make it impossible.
Who started Bloody Sunday?
Bloody Sunday began as a peaceful—but illegal—demonstration by some 10,000 people organized by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in opposition to the British government’s policy of interning suspected members of the IRA without trial.
Where did the march on Selma start and end?
The marches started in Selma, Alabama, and went all the way to Montgomery, the state capital. Segregation was rampant in the South during this time, and something had to be done.
When did Martin Luther King Jr start the Selma to Montgomery march?
On 2 January 1965 King and SCLC joined SNCC, the Dallas County Voters League, and other local African American activists in a voting rights campaign in Selma where, in spite of repeated registration attempts by local blacks, only two percent were on the voting rolls.
Why was Bloody Sunday important to the march on Selma?
His death was the turning point in the eyes of many, and some protesters even wanted to lay his body in front of the Alabama Capitol. They did not manage to do so, but this death was the spark that started the marches. The Bloody Sunday Memorial in Selma, Alabama, honors those killed in their civil rights march to Montgomery.
What did John Cloud do during the Selma to Montgomery march?
The marchers made their way through Selma across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where they faced a blockade of state troopers and local lawmen commanded by Clark and Major John Cloud, who ordered the marchers to disperse. When they did not, Cloud ordered his men to advance.