This Day in Black History: March 7, 1965
Civil rights protesters attempt to march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery but are halted by heavily armed state troopers and deputies.
On this day in 1965, an estimated 600 voting and civil rights activists began a 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol of Montgomery in protest of the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was fatally shot three weeks prior by a state trooper while trying to protect his mother at a civil rights demonstration.
After the group reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, over the Alabama River, they were met by a hostile front of state troopers and deputies armed with tear gas and billy clubs. The state officials ordered the protesters to turn around and head back to Selma, but they refused. Officers then unleashed the tear gas and viciously beat many of the protesters. Over 50 people were hospitalized.
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Posted By: Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
Tuesday, March 7th 2023 at 10:29AM
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