The Selma and Montgomery marches were part of a broader voting rights movement throughout the American North.
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches , held in 1965 , along the 54-mile -LRB- 87 km -RRB- highway from Selma , Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery .. Selma. Selma, Alabama. protest marches. Demonstration ( protest ). Montgomery. Montgomery, Alabama. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote , in defiance of segregationist repression , and were part of a broader voting rights movement underway in Selma and throughout the American South .. Selma. Selma, Alabama. nonviolent. nonviolence. activists. Activism. African-American. African American. American South. Southern United States. By highlighting racial injustice , they contributed to passage that year of the Voting Rights Act , a landmark federal achievement of the Civil Rights Movement .. Civil Rights Movement. Civil Rights Movement. Voting Rights Act. Voting Rights Act of 1965. Southern state legislatures had passed and maintained a series of discriminatory requirements and practices that had disenfranchised most of the millions of African Americans across the South throughout the 20th century .. African Americans. African Americans. disenfranchised. Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era. The African-American group known as the Dallas County Voters League -LRB- DCVL -RRB- launched a voters registration campaign in Selma in 1963 .. Selma. Selma, Alabama. Dallas County Voters League. Dallas County Voters League. African-American. African American. Joined by organizers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee -LRB- SNCC -RRB- , they began working that year in a renewed effort to register black voters .. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Finding resistance by white officials to be intractable , even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended legal segregation , the DCVL invited Rev. Martin Luther King , Jr. and the activists of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference -LRB- SCLC -RRB- to join them .. Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Southern Christian Leadership Conference. activists. Activism. Civil Rights Act of 1964. Civil Rights Act of 1964. SCLC brought many prominent civil rights and civic leaders to Selma in January 1965 .. Selma. Selma, Alabama. Local and regional protests began , with 3,000 people arrested by the end of February .. According to Joseph A. Califano Jr. , who served as head of domestic affairs for U.S. President Lyndon Johnson between the years 1965 and 1969 , the President viewed King as an essential partner in getting the Voting Rights Act enacted .. Voting Rights Act. Voting Rights Act of 1965. U.S. President. President of the United States. Lyndon Johnson. Lyndon Johnson. Califano , whom the President also assigned to monitor the final march to Montgomery , noted that Johnson and King talked by telephone on January 15 to plan a strategy for drawing attention to the injustice of using literacy tests and other barriers to stop black Southerners from voting and that King later informed the President on February 9 of his decision to use Selma to achieve this objective .. Selma. Selma, Alabama. Montgomery. Montgomery, Alabama. On February 26 , 1965 , activist and deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson died after being mortally shot several days earlier by a state trooper , James Bonard Fowler , during a peaceful march in nearby Marion , Alabama .. Jimmie Lee Jackson. Jimmie Lee Jackson. James Bonard Fowler. James Bonard Fowler. To defuse and refocus the community 's outrage , SCLC Director of Direct Action James Bevel , who was directing SCLC 's Selma voting rights movement , called for a march of dramatic length , from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery .. Selma. Selma, Alabama. James Bevel. James Bevel. Montgomery. Montgomery, Alabama. Bevel had been working on his Alabama Project for voting rights since late 1963 .. The first march took place on March 7 , 1965 , organized locally by Bevel , Amelia Boynton , and others .. Amelia Boynton. Amelia Boynton Robinson. State troopers and county possemen attacked the unarmed marchers with billy clubs and tear gas after they passed over the county line , and the event became known as Bloody Sunday .. possemen. Posse comitatus ( common law ). billy clubs. Baton ( law enforcement ). tear gas. tear gas. Law enforcement beat Boynton unconscious , and the media publicized worldwide a picture of her lying wounded on the Edmund Pettus Bridge .. Edmund Pettus Bridge. Edmund Pettus Bridge. The second march took place March 10 .. Troopers , police , and marchers confronted each other at the county end of the bridge , but when the troopers stepped aside to let them pass , King led the marchers back to the church .. He was obeying a federal injunction while seeking protection from federal court for the march .. That night , a white group beat and murdered civil rights activist James Reeb , a Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston , who had come to Selma to march with the second group .. Selma. Selma, Alabama. James Reeb. James Reeb. Many other clergy and sympathizers from across the country also gathered for the second march .. The violence of the `` Bloody Sunday '' and of Reeb 's death led to a national outcry and some acts of civil disobedience , targeting both the Alabama and federal governments .. civil disobedience. civil disobedience. The protesters demanded protection for the Selma marchers and a new federal voting rights law to enable African Americans to register and vote without harassment .. Selma. Selma, Alabama. African Americans. African Americans. President Lyndon Johnson , whose administration had been working on a voting rights law , held a historic , nationally televised joint session of Congress on March 15 to ask for the bill 's introduction and passage .. Lyndon Johnson. Lyndon Johnson. joint session of Congress. joint session of Congress. With Governor Wallace refusing to protect the marchers , President Johnson committed to do so .. The third march started March 21 .. Protected by 1,900 members of the Alabama National Guard under federal command , and many FBI agents and Federal Marshals , the marchers averaged 10 miles -LRB- 16 km -RRB- a day along U.S. Route 80 , known in Alabama as the `` Jefferson Davis Highway '' .. U.S. Route 80. U.S. Route 80. Jefferson Davis Highway. Jefferson Davis Highway. The marchers arrived in Montgomery on March 24 and at the Alabama State Capitol on March 25 .. Alabama State Capitol. Alabama State Capitol. Montgomery. Montgomery, Alabama. With thousands having joined the campaign , 25,000 people entered the capital city that day in support of voting rights .. The route is memorialized as the `` Selma To Montgomery Voting Rights Trail , '' and is designated as a U.S. National Historic Trail .. Selma. Selma, Alabama. Montgomery. Montgomery, Alabama. U.S. National Historic Trail. National Historic Trail