“Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama: John Lewis, Other Marchers Beaten and Tear Gassed
Six hundred civil rights activists assembled at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday morning, planning to march to the state capitol in Montgomery to demand the right to vote. The march was led by leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Just short of the bridge over the Alabama River, the road was blocked by 200 Alabama State troopers and local police who ordered them to disperse. When the protesters refused, the officers fired teargas and then attacked the demonstrators, beating the nonviolent protesters with clubs and ultimately hospitalizing over 50 people.
At the head of the march, John Lewis, then a leader of SNCC, was savagely beaten, suffering a fractured skull. He later recalled that he thought he was going to die. Fifteen other marchers were hospitalized for their injuries.
“Bloody Sunday” was one of the most famous events in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. Newsreel footage of the brutal beating was broadcast around the country, and a wave of protest arose, supporting the right of African-Americans to vote.
Hundreds of people from around the country flew or drove to Selma to join the march. A federal judge temporarily enjoined the march. It was lifted and President Lyndon Johnson ordered federal troops to guard the march. The now-huge march resumed on March 21, 1965, reaching Montgomery on March 25, 1961.
On June 25, 1965 President Lyndon Johnson gave a strong voting rights speech on March 15, 1965. The speech is widely regarded as one of the most famous speeches in American history. The Selma crisis led directly to passage of the historic 1965 Voting Rights Act, which President Lyndon Johnson signed into law on August 6, 1965.
John Lewis was elected to the House of Representatives from the 5th District of Atlanta, representing Atlanta, Georgia. At the time of his death he had served over 33 year in Congress. Lewis died on July 17, 2020. On Sunday July 26, 2020 his casket was carried across the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the last time by a horse-drawn carriage.
Watch newsreel footage of Bloody Sunday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM-tfj6lp6w
Read the original SNCC report on the incident:
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/6503_sncc_bloodysunday_rpt.pdfVisit the Edmund Pettus Bridge: www.nps.gov/semo/historyculture/edmund-winston-pettus-bridge.htm
Read: David Garrow, Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (1978)
Don’t Miss the Acclaimed Film: Selma (2015)