Selma to Montgomery marches

The Selma to Montgomery marches, which included Bloody Sunday, were three marches that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. They were the culmination of the movement in Selma for voting rights, launched by Amelia Boynton Robinson and her husband, who brought many prominent leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement to Selma, including Martin Luther King Jr., Jim Bevel, and Hosea Williams.

The second march

Immediately after "Bloody Sunday" Martin Luther King Jr., as leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, began organizing a second march to be held on Tuesday, March 9, 1965, calling for people across the country to join him. Hundreds of people responded to his call, shocked by what they had seen on television.

Related Topics:
Southern Christian Leadership Conference - Tuesday - March 9 - 1965

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To prevent another outbreak of violence the marchers attempted to gain a court order that would prohibit the police from interfering. Instead of issuing the court order Federal District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. issued a restraining order, preventing the march from taking place until he could hold additional hearings later in the week.

Related Topics:
Frank M. Johnson, Jr - Restraining order

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Rather than abiding by the court order the SCLC decided to hold a partial, "ceremonial", march, taking into consideration that they had gathered hundreds of marchers for the event, but did not want to alienate one of the few southern judges who was often sympathetic to their cause.

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On March 9th King led the marchers out to the Edmund Pettus Bridge and held a short prayer session before turning the marchers back around, thereby not breaking the court order preventing them from marching all the way to Montgomery. Only the SCLC leaders were told of this plan, causing some consternation in the marchers who had traveled long distances to make the march, but many stayed after King asked the crowd to remain for another attempt at the march.

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On March 9, after the second march, James Reeb, a white Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston who had come for the second march and had agreed to stay, was attacked with a club in front of the Silver Moon Café, a hangout for whites. Being turned back by the small local hospital in Selma (reported to be full at the time), Reeb's companions were forced to take him to University Hospital in Birmingham, two hours away. Reeb died on Thursday, March 11, at University Hospital with his wife by his side.

Related Topics:
March 9 - James Reeb - Unitarian Universalist - Boston - Silver Moon Café - Birmingham

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Reeb's death garnered national attention, much to the chagrin of some blacks after the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson went largely unnoticed. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee spokesperson Stokely Carmichael was reported as saying "What you want is the nation to be upset when anybody is killed . . . but it almost for this to be recognized, a white person must be killed".

Related Topics:
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee - Stokely Carmichael

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