Jackson's Death Led to 'Bloody Sunday' March - Marion, AL - Alabama Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Marker text:

A group of protesters pursued by troopers ran behind Zion church into Mack's Cafe. Cager Lee, 82, was clubbed to the floor, along with daughter Viola Jackson, whose son Jimmie Lee was shot in the stomach while trying to help. He died eight days later. Strategist James Bevel suggested a procession to Montgomery to confront Gov. George Wallace.

Some 600 marchers were routed by club-swinging lawmen at the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, Bloody Sunday.' An attempt on March 9 was cancelled. On March 21, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led several thousand marchers to Montgomery. They reached the State Capitol in four days, their numbers swollen to 25,000.

In 2005, retired trooper James Bonard Fowler told the Anniston Star that he shot Jackson. In 2010, District Attorney Michael Jackson obtained a guilty plea to manslaughter from Fowler, then 77. Fowler served five months before being released for health reasons. Jimmie Lee Jackson's tragic story was featured in the 2015 film Selma.

This marker unveiled in August, 2015,
the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Marker Name: Jackson's Death Led to 'Bloody Sunday' March Marker Type: Urban Addtional Information:: Marker is located on the lawn of the Perry County Courthouse. Marion, Alabama is the only extension to the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, and there are no plans for expansion, according to the National Parks Service. The Marion to Selma Connecting Trail runs from US Highway 80 West and Dallas County Road 45 to Marion. Date Dedicated / Placed: 2015 Marker Number: N/A

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