March 1965Reputable sourceWell documented
Selma and Bloody Sunday
On the timeline · around March 1965 ·
What happened
On 7 March 1965 some 600 marchers set out from Selma, Alabama, toward the state capital to demand voting rights, only to be beaten by state troopers with clubs and tear gas as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Televised images of 'Bloody Sunday' outraged the country; two weeks later, protected by federal troops, 25,000 marchers completed the journey to Montgomery.
Why it matters
The violence at Selma and the triumphant march that followed created the political will for the Voting Rights Act.