A 1965 Life Magazine cover depicting the impending violence that the voting rights marchers are about to face in Selma, Alabama. [1080 x 1369]

    by icey_sawg0034

    6 Comments

    1. larsnelson76 on

      The police are getting ready to riot to keep people from exercising their constitutional right to assemble.

    2. I believe that’s the late great John Lewis in the white coat. What a shameful time in our history.

    3. PrettyYoungTiger on

      We’re such a demoralized society now that I wonder if we have what it takes to march like this.

    4. In early 1965, Black citizens in places like Selma were being blocked from voting through literacy tests, intimidation, and local officials refusing registration. Despite being a legal right, very few were actually able to vote.
      Civil rights groups organised marches to demand federal protection. On March 7, during the Selma to Montgomery marches, peaceful protesters were stopped at the Edmund Pettus Bridge and attacked by Alabama state troopers. This became known as Bloody Sunday. The violence was filmed and broadcast across the United States.
      Public reaction shifted quickly. The images made it harder to ignore what was happening in the South and increased pressure on the federal government to act.
      Within months, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. It removed discriminatory voting barriers and placed federal oversight on states with a history of suppression.
      The marches did not end the struggle, but they forced a legal change that significantly increased Black voter registration across the South.

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