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-From 1955 through 1964, movement protests occurred throughout the South. These protests
included the Montgomery Bus Boycott that ran from 1955 to 1956, Sit- Ins and Boycotts of 1960,
the Freedom Rides of 1961, the March on Washington in 1963, and the Mississippi Freedom
Summer of 1964 (Branch; 2013; Hudson, 1998; Lawson, 2005).

-The 1960s were turbulent times for Blacks fighting for the right to vote. The push-forward for
Blacks to put the fight for the right to vote into motion was after Jimmie Lee Jackson, a Black civil
rights activist in Marion, Alabama, was shot by James Bonard Fowler, an Alabama State Trooper.
Jackson was at a peaceful voting rights march in his city. He died eight days later in the hospital.
His death helped to inspire the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in 1965.

Photo Credit: Erica Fox Washington

There were three attempts to march from Selma to Montgomery. The first attempt on March 7 ,
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led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, found marchers making their way across the
Edmund Pettus Bridge, only to be greeted by a blockade of state troopers and local lawmen.
When marchers did not disperse, the troopers and lawmen attacked the marchers with clubs and
tear gas and sent them running back across the bridge. This first attempt, which was televised,
was called “Bloody Sunday.” The second attempt on March 9th is known as “Turn Around
Tuesday.” Led by Dr. King again, marchers made it across the bridge, only to meet state troopers
and lawmen again. Dr. King decided to kneel down and pray with marchers following. After
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praying, Dr. King turned-around to go back across the bridge. The third attempt on March 21 ,
was successful, as marchers received permission from U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to march
from Selma to Montgomery; and with protection from Alabama State Troopers and lawmen. The
march was a 54-mile trek heading west on Selma Highway. The march took five days to reach
Montgomery.

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