Ever since 1961, SNCC had been active in the rural South attempting to register black voters. However, the students were met with violence because they were challenging the Jim Crow structure of southern culture that emerged after the Civil War. The SCLC was brought in to help bring national attention to the situation.
Activists planned to march 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery to raise awareness about how black citizens were not represented because although they were a majority of the population, a majority of them could not vote. The march took place on March 7, 1965.
As the march began, the protestors were halted on the Edmund Pettus Bridge by state troopers and a posse. The marchers were informed that they were an unlawful assembly and ordered to disperse. The marchers refused and the troopers advanced. Tear gas, horses and makeshift weapons were used on the protestors, who had been taught non-violence and did not fight back.
Civil rights activist Amelia Boynton was beaten until she was unconscious. A photo of her lying on the bridge, battered and bloody, was printed on the front page of newspapers around the world, helping the incident earn the name "Bloody Sunday." Boynton had helped to plan the march and was one of few blacks in Selma who had successfully registered to vote. The photo of Amelia Boynton and other bloodied protestors helped incite a reaction from the rest of the country, leading to a second attempt at a March to Montgomery and resulting in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
On the 50th anniversary of the march, John Lewis returned to Selma, along with President Barak Obama. President Obama spoke on the Edmund Pettus Bridge where he said Congressman John Lewis is a living hero. He also addressed the issue of racial equality in America. "There are places and moments in America where this nation's destiny has been decided. Selma is such a place." But, "five decades after Bloody Sunday, the march is not finished."
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