Selma to Montgomery March -- Union Station, Montgomery AL - Civil Rights Memorials on Waymarking.com

This sign at the Montgomery Union Station reads as follows:

"SELMA TO MONTGOMERY MARCH
Bloody Sunday
Today the right to vote is a fundamental one we commonly take for granted, yet in 1965 many Americans who refused the right to vote. The Civil Rights Movement was still struggling to win the right to vote for Blacks. To help gained national awareness civil rights leaders plan to march from Selma to Montgomery. The governor of the state, George Wallace, made plans to stop the march at the Edmund Pettis Bridge, which crosses the Alabama River at the outskirts of Selma. When the 600 marchers tried to cross the bridge, mounted deputies and state troopers waited into the marchers ranks and attacked them with clubs. The defenseless demonstrators, predictably, fell back after sustaining injuries. When the national networks aired the attacks a cry of outrage helped to swell the ranks of King’s followers.

Marchers arrive
Under public pressure you. S. District Judge Frank M Johnson, Jr. ruled the marchers had a right to demonstrate peacefully on a federal highway. A new march was planned. Governor Wallace refused to protect the marchers, prompting President Johnson to federalize the Alabama National Guard to provide federal protection. 3,200 marchers began the second march on March 21, 1965. Four days later, their numbers swelled to 25,000. Doctor King led the marchers and demonstrators up Dexter Avenue to the state capitol where state troopers barred them from the Capitol’s grounds. King delivered one of his most memorable speeches, predicting that segregation was on its deathbed. As a direct result of the Selma to Montgomery March, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, increasing the numbers of black voters substantially."

Civil Right Type: Race (includes U.S. Civil Rights movement)

Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   07/27/2017 Benchmark Blasterz visited it