Jonathan ElderfieldMarch 05, 2020civil rights, martin luther king, bloody sunday, marchComment

Selma 1965: Marches and Bloody Sunday violence led to Voting Rights Act

Jonathan ElderfieldMarch 05, 2020civil rights, martin luther king, bloody sunday, marchComment

Two weeks before Bloody Sunday — the clash in Selma on March 7, 1965, that helped propel passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — there was a march in small town Marion, 30 miles away.

The protest in Marion was sparked by the arrest of a minister who was leading efforts to register black people to vote. It ended with the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old black church deacon, Jimmie Lee Jackson, by a state trooper.

What happened in Marion is now a less-familiar episode in the civil rights movement, a footnote in the textbooks. But the blood spilled here would send hundreds of people from Marion and the surrounding county to Selma and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where history was made.

The TV footage and other images from that day shocked the country and helped lead to the landmark federal law protecting the right of African Americans to vote.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and associates lead a procession behind the casket of Jimmy Lee Jackson during a funeral service at Marion, Ala, in this March 1, 1965. From left are: John Lewis, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Rev. Andrew Young. (AP Photo)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., preaches at the funeral in Marion, Alabama in March 1965 of Jimmy Lee Jackson, slain during a racial demonstration. (AP Photo)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gestures as he preaches at the funeral in Marion, Alabama March 3, 1965 of Jimmy Lee Jackson, slain during a racial demonstration. (AP Photo)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., joins hands and sings We Shall Overcome at the graveside after funeral services for Jimmy Lee Jackson at Marion, Alabama March 4, 1965. At his right is Rev. Ralph Abernathy. (AP Photo)

State troopers swing billy clubs to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Ala., March 7, 1965. John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (in the foreground) is being beaten by a state trooper. Lewis, a future U.S. Congressman sustained a fractured skull. (AP Photo)

Alabama state troopers charge into a line of demonstrators making an attempt to march to Montgomery from Selma, Ala, March 7, 1965. (AP Photo)

In this March 7, 1965 photo tear gas fills the air as state troopers, ordered by Alabama Gov. George Wallace, break up a march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., on what became known as Bloody Sunday. (AP Photo)

A state trooper bends over a Black woman who was knocked down as police broke up a march in Selma, Ala. on March 8, 1965. (AP Photo)

James Webb, right, an instructor, conducts a workshop for young African-Americans civil rights marchers in how to protect themselves, in Selma, Alabama on March 8, 1965. (AP Photo)

Policemen hold back demonstrators, who started off in all directions, in an attempt to march to the court house, March 13, 1965, Selma, Ala. (AP Photo)

State police stand firm with their billy clubs against demonstrators who attempted to break through their lines for a march on the courthouse in Selma, Ala., March 13, 1965. (AP Photo)

Three unidentified nuns from the Queen of the World Hospital, Kansas City cross arms and sing freedom songs with demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, March 13, 1965. (AP Photo)

Demonstrators carrying signs which spell out “Selma Wall” march in a line from Browns Chapel in Selma, Alabama on March 14, 1965. The sign refers to a police barricade which has been maintained three days and nights a half block from the church. Leading the march is William S. Greer. (AP Photo)

Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. carries a wreath, March 15, 1965, in a march to the courthouse for memorial services for white Unitarian minister Rev. James Reeb, who was killed by a white mob, in Selma, Alabama. From left to right, front: His Eminence Iakobos, Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church; King; Revs. Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young. Back, left to right: Dr. Dana McLean Greeley, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of North America; Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers. (AP Photo)

In this March 21, 1965 photo, Dr. Martin Luther King, foreground row, fifth from right, waves as marchers stream across the Alabama River on the first of a five day, 50-mile march to the state capitol at Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo)

In this March 22, 1965 photo, a boy waves from a porch as marchers led by Dr. Martin Luther King leave their camp near Selma, Ala., to resume their voters rights protest march headed to the state capitol in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo)

Civil rights marchers stride along a rainy route 80 during their trek from Selma, Alabama to the State Capitol of Montgomery, about 25 miles away in their demonstration against voting rights in the state. Most of the marches wore rain gear, much of which was improvised at the start of hike on March 23, 1965 in Selma, Alabama. (AP Photo)

Civil rights marchers carry flags and play the flute as they approach their goal of Montgomery, Alabama's state Capitol, on March 24, 1965 during their fourth day in the voter registration protest march. From left to right are, Dick Jackman, New York; Len Chandler, New York, playing the flute; Jim Letherer, Saginaw, Michigan, on crutches; and Louis Marshall, Selma, Alabama. (AP Photo)