Selma's Bloody Sunday: The Violent Struggle to Vote in White America

Black News Unfiltered

Bob Edwards and Content Contributor Davis Jackson talk about Bloody Sunday which refers to a pivotal event in the American Civil Rights Movement that occurred on March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama. It was a peaceful march led by civil rights activists, including John Lewis and Hosea Williams, to demand voting rights for African Americans. The protesters intended to march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital.

However, as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met with brutal violence from state troopers and local law enforcement. The officers attacked the unarmed marchers with tear gas, batons, and mounted officers, resulting in numerous injuries among the demonstrators, some severely beaten.

The violent repression of the peaceful protest garnered widespread national and international attention, shocking many Americans and galvanizing support for the Civil Rights Movement. The event led to increased pressure on the federal government to protect the rights of African Americans and ultimately contributed to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited racial discrimination in voting practices.

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