African American History 9

Selma Voting Rights Campaign

🗓 Began 1961, intensified 1965
📍Selma, Alabama – ~30,000 residents; ≈50% Black population, but <1% were registered voters.
📌 Led by SNCC, SCLC, and the Dallas County Voters League.
🧠 Tactics: voting clinics, mass registration drives, legal pressure.
📆 On Jan 2, 1965, Dr. King delivered a speech at Brown Chapel and launched the Selma campaign on Jan 18.

Freedom Day (Oct 7, 1963)

📍Dallas County Courthouse
📌 SNCC helped 250 Black citizens line up to register.
📸 Photos were taken and printed in newspapers to intimidate.
⚠ They faced threats, beatings, and literacy tests.

Jimmy Lee Jackson

🗓 Killed February 18, 1965
📍Marion, Alabama
📌 26-year-old civil rights activist shot by Alabama trooper while protecting his mother during a peaceful protest.
💥 His death became the catalyst for the Selma to Montgomery March.

James Bevel

📌 SCLC strategist who proposed the Selma to Montgomery March in response to Jackson's death.
🎯 Goal: Take grievances to Governor George Wallace directly in Montgomery.

Selma to Montgomery March (March 1965)

📆 Three attempts over March 7–25
📍Route: 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery
🎯 Protest systematic voter suppression in Alabama.
📚 Final march: 25,000+ people, with federal protection ordered by LBJ after court ruling.

Bloody Sunday (March 7, 1965)

Bloody Sunday (March 7, 1965)
📍Edmund Pettus Bridge
👥 Led by John Lewis (SNCC) and Hosea Williams (SCLC) with 500 peaceful marchers.
🚨 Brutally attacked by state troopers and Sheriff Jim Clarke’s forces using clubs and tear gas.
📸 Televised violence sparked national outrage.

“Turnaround Tuesday” (March 9, 1965)

📌 Second march attempt.
🧑‍⚖ Federal Judge Frank Johnson ordered King to wait for judicial approval.
📚 King led marchers to the bridge, then turned back after prayer.
📣 Strategic retreat while preserving nonviolence.

Final March (March 21–25, 1965)

📌 After Judge Johnson ruled in favor of protestors and LBJ guaranteed protection.
📆 Marchers reached Alabama State Capitol on March 25.
📸 Included MLK, Ralph Abernathy, Coretta Scott King, and national allies.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

🗓 Signed August 6, 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson
📜 Key provisions:

• Prohibited any voting law that denied rights based on race or color

• Authorized federal oversight in jurisdictions with a history of discrimination

• Required preclearance for election law changes
  📊 1965: 23% Black voter registration → 1969: 61%

Shelby County v. Holder (2013)

🧑‍⚖ Supreme Court decision that struck down the preclearance formula in the Voting Rights Act.
⚠ Made it easier for states (TX, MS, NC, FL, etc.) to pass voter restriction laws without federal review.
📣 Sparked a new wave of voter suppression laws in Southern and swing states.