"IN SELMA, IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYTHING & NOTHING HAS CHANGED"

VIOLENCE IN SELMA LEADS TO VOTING RIGHTS ACT

Selma, Alabama (JFK+50) On March 7, 1965, 600 marchers demonstrating for voting rights were brutally attacked with clubs and tear gas by state and local police here in Selma.  After crossing Edmund Pettus* Bridge, the group, led by John Lewis of SNCC and Rev. Hosea Williams of SCLC were confronted by authorities.

17 marchers were injured and  hospitalized.  Leaders of the march said that despite the attacks, more marches would follow.  Of the 15,000 blacks in Dallas County** only 130 were registered to vote.  Bloody Sunday was a key event leading to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

On February 11, 2015, the House of Representatives passed a resolution awarding the Congressional Gold Medal "to the foot soldiers of the 1965 voting rights movement in Selma."  Ari Berman writes that in Selma, civil rights history is everywhere.  Its streets are named after civil rights activists.

*Edmund Pettus was a general in the Confederate army & leader of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan.

**In 2014, Dallas County (80% African-American) was the poorest county in the state of Alabama.  More than 40% of its residents lived below the poverty line.  Ari Berman writes...."In Selma, it feels like everything and nothing has changed."

SOURCE

"Fifty Years After Bloody Sunday in Selma, Everything and Nothing Has Changed," by Ari Berman, The Nation, February 25, 2015, www.thenation.com/

"Five things to know about Bloody Sunday this weekend," by the editors of USA Today, March 7, 2015,  www.usatoday.com/

Bloody Sunday

Selma, Alabama (1965)

By Kevin Saff

at en.wikipedia

A BLOODY SUNDAY IN SELMA

CIVIL RIGHTS MARCHERS ATTACKED WITH CLUBS & TEAR GAS

Selma, Alabama (JFK+50) On March 7, 1965, 600 marchers demonstrating for voting rights were brutally attacked with clubs and tear gas by state and local police here in Selma.

After crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge, the group, led by John Lewis* of SNCC (Southern Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) and Rev. Hosea Williams** of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, were confronted by authorities.

17 marchers were injured and  hospitalized. Leaders of the march said that despite the attacks, more marches would follow.  Of the 15,000 blacks in Dallas County in 1961 only 130 were registered to vote. 

"Bloody Sunday" was one of the key events leading to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

*John Lewis was born to a family of sharecroppers in Troy, Alabama in 1940.  He graduated from Alabama Baptist Theological Seminary and Fisk University.  JL was chairman of SNCC during the civil rights era and one of the original 13 Freedom Riders.  

**Hosea Lorenzo Williams (1926-2000) was born in Attapulgus, Georgia & survived a German attack as a US Army soldier in WWII.   HLW received the Purple Heart.  HLW became a businessman, ordained minister & leader in the civil rights movement.

SOURCE

"5 things to know about Bloody Sunday this weekend," by the editors of USA Today, March 7, 2015,  www.usatoday.com/

Bloody Sunday
Selma, Alabama (1965)

By Kevin Saff
at en.wikipedia

MAHALIA JACKSON AND AMELIA BOYNTON ROBINSON

"MARTIN, TELL THEM ABOUT THE DREAM!"

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-two years ago today, August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked the Queen of Gospel Music to sing "I've Been Buked and I've Been Scorned" before he spoke at the March on Washington, but before she sang, Mahalia Jackson said to Dr. King...

 "Martin, tell them about the dream".

Dr. King had included the "I have a dream" theme in previous speeches and sermons but it was not included in the text of his March on Washington address. He followed Mahalia's advice and added "I have a dream"  to his closing his remarks.

Mahalia Jackson

Queen of Gospel Music

Photo by Carl Van Vechten (1962)

AMELIA BOYNTON ROBINSON DIES AT 104

Montgomery, Alabama (JFK+50) The New York Times reports that last Wednesday, August 26, 2015, "a pivotal figure at the Selma march," Amelia Boynton Robinson* passed away here in Montgomery at age 104.

Ms. Robinson became known as "the matriarch of the voting rights movement." On March 7, 1965, she was "beaten, gassed and left for dead" in the Selma, Alabama march for voting rights.  She had been one of the organizers of the march which was to go from Selma to Montgomery in demand for "the right to register to vote."

Responding to the news of her death, President Barack Obama said...

"She was as strong, as hopeful and as indomitable of spirit--as quintessentially American--as I'm sure she was that day 50 years ago.  To honor the legacy of an American hero like Amelia....requires only that we follow her example--that all of us fight to protect everyone's right to vote."

The Times quotes Ms. Robinson's reflection on her role in Bloody Sunday...

"I wasn't looking for notoriety, but if that's what it took I didn't care how many licks I got.  It just made me even more determined to fight for our cause."

*Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911-2015) was born in Savannah, Georgia, one of 10 children of George and Anna Platts.  ABR earned a degree in Home Economics at Tuskegee Institute and worked with the Department of Agriculture in Selma.  ABR worked in voter registration, and retired in 2009.

SOURCE

"Amelia Boynton Robinson, 104, Dies; A Pivotal Figure at the Selma March," by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, Obituaries, August 27, 2015.

Selma to Montgomery Marches' Road Sign

Photo by Markuskun (2008)

                       

LBJ SPEAKS TO CONGRESS ON VOTING RIGHTS

LBJ CALLED FOR PASSAGE OF VOTING RIGHTS ACT 50 YEARS AGO TONIGHT

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty years ago this evening, March 15, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave an address to the Congress of the United States in which he called for passage of voting rights legislation.

The speech came in response to the recent attack on peaceful civil rights protesters by police in Selma, Alabama.  

President Johnson began his speech with these words...

"At times history and fate meet...to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom.  So it was at Lexington and Concord.  So it was...at Appomattox.  So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.

There, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans.  Many were brutally assaulted.  One good man, a man of God, was killed."

LBJ continued...

"We are met here tonight as Americans...to solve...an American problem.  The harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes.

The Constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or his color (15th Amendment, 1870).  We have all sworn an oath before God to support and defend that Constitution.  We must act now in obedience to that oath."

President Johnson sent the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to Congress which proposed to eliminate illegal barriers to the right to vote.  If enacted, the legislation would strike down voting restrictions in ALL federal, state, and local elections.

LBJ said...

"The time of justice has now come.  I believe sincerely that no force can hold it back."

The Voting Rights Act, sponsored by Democratic Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana and Republican Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois, was passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is the most far-reaching piece of civil rights legislation in United States History.

SOURCES

"President Lyndon B. Johnson's Address to Congress on Voting Rights," www.millercenter.org/

"The Voting Rights of Act of 1965," www.history.com/

"The Voting Rights Act of 1965," www.justice.gov/

LBJ & MLK, Jr.

August 6, 1965

Photo by Yoichi R. Okamoto

LBJ Library & Museum Image

50TH ANNIVERSARY IN SELMA

A BLOODY SUNDAY IN SELMA 50 YEARS AGO  

Selma, Alabama (JFK+50) Fifty years ago today, March 7, 1965, 600 marchers demonstrating for voting rights were brutally attacked with clubs and tear gas by state and local police here in Selma.

After crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge, the group, led by John Lewis of SNCC (Southern Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) and Rev. Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, were confronted by authorities.

17 marchers were injured and  hospitalized. Leaders of the march said that despite the attacks, more marches would follow.  Of the 15,000 blacks in Dallas County in 1961 only 130 were registered to vote. 

"Bloody Sunday" was one of the key events leading to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver a commemoration speech today at 12 o'clock and tomorrow Congressman Lewis and Rev. Williams will lead the commemoration march.  More than 100,000 people are expected to attend.

Today in Montgomery, Alabama, Patti LaBelle will give a concert titled "The Dream Marches On." 

SOURCE

"5 things to know about Bloody Sunday this weekend," by the editors of USA Today, March 7, 2015,  www.usatoday.com/

Bloody Sunday
Selma, Alabama (1965)

By Kevin Saff
at en.wikipedia

National Historic Marker

Selma to Montgomery
By Markuskun (2007)

JFK's 52nd NEWS CONFERENCE

JFK'S NEWS CONFERENCE HELD 51 YEARS AGO TODAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Just back from a goodwill trip to Costa Rica, President John F. Kennedy held his 52nd news conference fifty-one years ago today, March 21, 1963.

In his introductory statement, President Kennedy said...

"For the first time a President of the United States (has) journeyed to Central America and conferred with all of the leaders of this vital area which (is) as closely allied with the United States as any area in the world."

"This is the fourth Latin American country which I have visited.  Here, as in all the others, we found an....outpouring of....affection for the United States."

JFK News Conference

State Department Auditorium

JFK Library Photo

The President was asked if he could clarify if the Central American Presidents he met with in San Jose "wanted to take stronger action" against Cuba than he would be willing to accept.

The President responded...

"They...recognize that one of the most effective ways to meet conditions in their own countries (is) to make sure that Communism doesn't get a grip because of the failure of the economies.

In one of the countries that we visited, 400 out of 1000 children do not attend any school.

We cannot expect stable, democratic societies to develop in an atmosphere where half of the population is illiterate."

Later in the conference, a reporter was in the process of asking a question...

"Mr. President.  Senator Case has proposed that a watchdog committee be created to look into these....."

When the reported hesitated in mid-sentence, JFK interrupted and asked...

"To watch the Congressmen and Senators?

 Well, that will be fine if they feel they should be watched."

SOURCE

"Kennedy and the Press:  The News Conferences,"  Edited and annotated by Harold W. Chase and Allen H. Lerman, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1965.

CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH BEGAN IN SELMA 49 YEARS AGO

Selma, Alabama (JFK+50) Supported by United States Army troops and a federalized Alabama National Guard, 3200 protesters, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began a march 49 years ago today, March 21, 1965, from here in Selma.

The destination of the march was the Alabama state capital in Montgomery where the marchers would petition for African-American voting rights.

Selma was selected by civil rights activists as the place to begin the march because of the city's resistance to registering black voters and the fact that only 2% of the city's black residents were registered to vote.

The marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge and headed down Highway 80.

 Dr. King and Rev. Abernathy in Selma