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History Of Senator John Lewis 'Bloody Sunday'

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“Bloody Sunday” refers to a pivotal event that occurred on March 7, 1965, during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. On this day, peaceful protesters, led by civil rights leaders including John Lewis, attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand voting rights for African Americans. As the protesters crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met with brutal violence from state troopers, including beatings and the use of tear gas. The violent crackdown on the nonviolent demonstrators shocked the nation and gathered support for the civil rights movement. Bloody Sunday is known worldwide because it symbolizes the struggle for racial equality and the lengths of which activists were willing to go to secure basic civil …show more content…

Recently, there have been efforts to change the name of Edmund Pettus Bridge to honor the legacy of Congressman John Lewis, who played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement and was among the leaders of the Selams to Montgomery march. John Lewis was a key figure in the struggle for civil rights, advocating for nonviolent protest and equality for all Americans throughout his life. He was severely beaten by state troopers during Bloody Sunday and continued to be a champion for social justice throughout his career. The proposal to rename the bridge after John Lewis has gathered support from many who see it as a fitting tribute to his contributions to the civil rights movement and his lifelong commitment to justice and equality. Representative Lewis supported renaming the bridge, stating it would be a powerful symbol of progress and reconciliation. However, there are also those who oppose changing the name of the bridge, arguing that it is a historic landmark with its own significance, and renaming it could erase that

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The graphic memoir, March, is a biography about Congressman John Lewis’ young life in rural Alabama which provides a great insight into lives of black families in 1940s and 50s under Jim Crow and segregation laws. March opens with a violent march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which the gruesome acts later became known as “Bloody Sunday,” during this march, 600 peaceful civil rights protestors were attacked by the Alabama state troopers for not listening to their commands. The story then goes back and forth depicts Lewis growing up in rural Alabama and President Obama’s inauguration in 2009. This story of a civil rights pioneer, John Lewis, portrays a strong influence between geography, community, and politics. The correlation between these pillars of March is that they have to coexist with other in order for John Lewis to exist that the world knows today.

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John Lewis was a civil rights activist and an American politician. John gained a notable profile because of his work that he had done in the civil rights movement by being a chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee also known as the SNCC which he commissioned the structure. The SNCC is a youth-led, nonviolent campaign against segregation and different types of racism. John Lewis was born on February 2, 1940 near Troy,Alabama, but unfortunately died on July 17,2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. He went to a segregated school and his parents encouraged him to not mind the discrimination he will receive.

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1153 Words | 5 Pages

On March 7th, 1965, a day now known as “Bloody Sunday”, displayed the tragedy of civil rights activists being brutally assaulted. This horrific example of blatant racism and hatred towards African Americans demanded a reaction from our government. The current President, Lyndon B. Johnson was tasked with uniting a country that seemed on the brink of conflict within itself. There were talks of him sending a bill that would declare the right of voting for all citizens. Lyndon B. Johnson had received criticism for how long it took him to send a voting bill to Congress.

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First of all, the American civil rights movement had the famous Selma to Montgomery march. The Planned march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery ended almost before it began. On Pettus Bridge, the police used tear gas and attacked the protesters. They did not have any rights and the farm workers demanded higher pay as they were paid very low pay. In 1966, the farm workers marched 300 miles from Delano to Sacramento in a pilgrimage ending on Easter Sunday.

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After Lewis met with Dr. King Jr., Lewis developed a strong moral compass that guided him on his journey to civil rights protesting. Dr. King Jr. also inspired his fight for justice and way of protesting which allowed Lewis to be successful in his battle. Lewis’ activism in the fight for civil rights was fairly successful. Throughout Lewis’ time as an activist in Alabama, he organized many peaceful protests, including sit-ins. These sit-ins would include many black Americans who were told they were not welcome in public establishments and would stay.

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King delivering his Nobel Prize acceptance speech overlapped with the 16th Street Baptist Church bombings that killed four young girls in Birmingham, when in truth the “bombing occurred in 1963, the year before King’s Nobel Prize speech” (Lockett,4). DuVernay uses the overlapping depiction of the bombings in the film to set a stage for “racial tension and unrest in the South” (Lockett, 4). In spite of all this, the film does in excellent job at recreating the events of March 7, 1965 – known as Bloody Sunday. The movie shows “Alabama state troops and local police” (Tunzelmann, 9) brutally attacking peaceful protestors. Historically Dr. King’s widow Coretta Scott King wrote, “The whole nation was sickened by the pictures of the wild melee” (Tunzelmann, 9) and the cruel use of “tear gas, clubs, horsemen slashing with bullwhips” (Tunzelmann, 9) which reinforces the notion that the film does an outstanding job at displaying the viciousness of the police force during the

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When Obama is speaks about how Lewis was proud of the young activists who led the George Floyd protests, Obama asserts, “…he could not have been prouder to see this new generation of activists standing up for freedom and equality; a new generation that was intent on voting and protecting the right to vote; in some cases, a new generation running for political office” (Obama 6). This reveals that John Lewis was grateful of the people, who had not lived through the civil rights movement, confronting the social issues and discriminatory acts of the law. He emphasizes this belief by repeating the phrase “new generation” to call out to the audience, who are mostly of a generation past Lewis’ generation, to keep on promoting the ideas of social justice. Lewis and Obama believe in a generation that will succeed the works of John Lewis; they believe in a world that fosters a new generation of “John Lewises" who will fight for egalitarianism. John Lewis spent the entirety of his life fighting for impartial treatment for all American people, even addressing housing problems and poverty during his speech in the March on Washington; Lewis observing those who had never lived through the Civil Rights movement is a “passing of the torch” so to speak.

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On March 7th, six hundred people had set out to march for the rights of blacks… the troopers had then beat them, killed some, and released tear gas in order to send

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On March 15th, 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson gave an incredible speech regarding African American rights and voting legislation. He addressed the nation shortly after the disaster of “Bloody Sunday” in Alabama. “Bloody Sunday” was when Alabama State Troopers brutally attacked Civil Rights activists during their march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama. This march was to get the African Americans the voting rights they deserved. When President Johnson gave the speech We Shall Overcome it became remembered as a historical and significant speech.

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780 Words | 4 Pages

John Lewis also worked with his idol, Martin Luther King Jr., to make change for the people of America (biography). Lewis had many different ways to change America peacefully. He had a lot of marches and public demonstrations to show people the difference in treatment between blacks and whites. (johnlewis) In the beginning of Lewis’s development as a civil rights leader, he went to the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee.

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473 Words | 2 Pages

Selma March were three pacific manifestations along 54 miles in the highway from Selma to the Alabama’ state capital of Montgomery. They were organized because some African Americans wanted to demonstrate the rest of American population that they deserved their constitutional right to vote, instead of segregationist and repression. When state troopers try to stop the march with some violence actions, it triggered a wave across the country that facilitated the civil rights movement and the passages of legislation. Highlighting racial injustice, they were raising in American social live. For this reason, President Lyndon B. Johnson should signed the new Voting Rights and a federal achievement of the Civil Rights Movement.

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172 Words | 1 Pages

Bloody Sunday was the Selma March. This march was peaceful and non-violent, it was turned into a violent one when State and local lawmen attacked the marchers, with billy clubs and tear gas on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. This turned this march to be renamed bloody Sunday. Then, the bus that the freedom riders used was burnt down. It was burnt down because people didint like that freedom riders, were protesting for innerstate

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1492 Words | 6 Pages

One year after the civil rights act there was a march of many black residents following Martin Luther King, Jr. across a bridge in Selma. When they got to the Edmund Pettus Bridge they were stopped by the police. The police

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One blazing hot, summer day on August 28, 1963, about a quarter of a million people, black and white alike, showed up for a peaceful march in Washington D.C. The march included walking from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln memorial. Passionate about civil rights, these people wanted to peacefully get legislature to give them the freedom that they rightfully deserve. They wanted to have non-segregated schools, protection against police cruelty, equality among workers, and a number of other rights. (Ross)

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1026 Words | 5 Pages

When demonstrators of Dr. King, Jr.’s movement arrived at the edge of Montgomery, by the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met with state troopers who proceeded to attack the marchers, transforming that Sunday into what would become known as “Bloody Sunday”. Similarly, demonstrators in Ireland had experienced their own “Bloody Sunday” on January 30th, 1972. Also known as the Bogside Massacre, this incident involved British soldiers shooting 28 unarmed civilians during a peace protest demonstration against internment, which was the act of imprisonment without charge or trial. “It is said that the spirit of Dr. King, Jr.’s legacy was very much alive that day” (Dr. King's Impact on The Fight for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland). Monday September 2nd, NICRA announced that a march would be held on October 5th in Derry to protest the housing distribution in the city, unemployment, local government reform, and the right of free speech and assembly.

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