The Selma To Montgomery March

Throughout the history of the United States, there has been a constant backdrop of oppression for minority groups. Perhaps, its most vivid moment of clarity occurred in the early 20th century when blacks and other people of color staged a movement, most commonly known as the “Civil Rights Movement”. In this movement, many events ultimately caused its success. The Selma to Montgomery March that occurred in March of 1965 provided an impetus for many blacks during that time and to this day. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the political effects of the Selma to Montgomery March on the Black Belt area of Alabama in comparison with the political effects felt by the nation overall.
Not many other states were as influential as the state

[1] The first and perhaps the most important event that gave legitimacy to the civil rights movement in the United States occurred in December of 1955. This event, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, was a protest against the policy of mandated racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. This boycott lasted from December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her set to a white passenger, until December 20, 1956 when a Supreme Court Ruling, Browder v. Gayle, took effect and outlawed segregation on public transportation. This Supreme Court ruling marked the first of many successes of the Civil Rights Movement. However, there was still much work to be done not only in the Black Belt region of Alabama, but nationwide. Hence, many other acts of civil disobedience occurred following this great success of the civil rights movement. Perhaps one of the most gruesome and most known events is that of the Selma to Montgomery March in March of 1965—more commonly known as “Bloody Sunday”. Interestingly, this march first began as a result of the gruesome murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion, Alabama. In February of 1965, organizers within the black belt led a march to the county courthouse in Marion protesting the incarceration of freedom fighter James Orange. Shortly thereafter, state troopers and local policemen from counties around the state of Alabama, met protesters at the post office, cut all street lights off, and began to beat and torture all those involved in the protest that particular night. Jimmie Lee Jackson, the aforementioned martyr, was in a local café next to the jail where both he and his mother and grandfather were being beat by the police. When Jackson intervened by getting in the way of the officer, he was shot twice in the stomach by police officer James Bonard Fowler. [1] Jackson, as a result of his abdominal