Jimmie Lee Jackson, Voting Rights Martyr - Marion, AL
Posted by: hoteltwo
N 32° 37.959 W 087° 19.088
16S E 470158 N 3610608
Marker describes the death of a civil rights worker that led to the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama. Marker is at the corner of Pickens and Jefferson Streets.
Waymark Code: WMY67V
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 04/29/2018
Views: 2
Marker text:
The death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, shot after police disrupted a peaceful nighttime demonstration in Marion, inspired the first attempted march from Selma to Montgomery that led to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Jackson, a 26-year-old black Army veteran, church deacon and hospital employee, had been active in efforts to register black voters. He himself had been denied five times.
On Feb. 18, 1965, police arrested voting rights organizer James Orange. That night Albert Turner and the Rev. James Dobynes led several hundred protesters two abreast out of Zion Methodist Church towards the jail a block away. The streetlights went out. Scores of local white police, along with sheriff's deputies and state troopers under the direction of Col. Al Lingo, attacked marchers and news reporters.
Marker Name: Jimmie Lee Jackson, Voting Rights Martyr
Marker Type: Urban
Addtional Information:: Located on the grounds of the Perry County Courthouse. Another marker is located across Pickens Street at Zion United Methodist Church mentioned on the marker.
Date Dedicated / Placed: 2015
Marker Number: N/A
|
Visit Instructions:
Please post a photo of you OR your GPS at the marker location. Also if you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Alabama history please include that in your log.
Recent Visits/Logs:
There are no logs for this waymark yet. |
|
|