Courage: the ability to do something that frightens one; strength in the face of fear, pain, or grief. In the movie “Selma,” Martin Luther King and his organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or the SCLC, had the courage to march from Selma Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery during the harsh and racist times of America in the early 1960s with hopes that the march would bring awareness to the nonexistent voting rights of African Americans in the American South(. Selma was based on true events which happened in 1965 during the historic “March on Selma.” Selma is a very historically accurate movie because it presented true events that occurred during the march, displayed how African Americans were regularly beaten and harassed, and show how African Americans fought for the voting rights of African Americans across the United States. A nearly three-week journey full of troubles became one of the most important protests in American history and ultimately resulted in the passing of the Voting Act of 1965, which granted African …show more content…
A few weeks later on March 7th, 1965, nearly 600 people begin a march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama(). While African Americans took action, they were faced with many troubles. During the first attempt to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the protesters encountered violent acts from counter protesters, state officials, and local law enforcement. The African American protesters were harassed and beaten. A SCLC member named Amelia Boynton was beaten unconscious. The media publicized this nationally with Amelia laying on the ground, unresponsive. This incident was known as Bloody Sunday and brought much attention to the harsh realities of the American South. This pushed the protesters back towards Selma, causing them to start the march