Impact
of Bloody Sunday Protest
 |
| Image of King’s widow, Coretta Scott King (center, in white coat), and others on the 10th anniversary of the civil rights march in March 1975. Image from Quartz, “Photos: Selma’s Bloody Sunday in 1965, and the 50th Anniversary march this weekend, Lily Kuo, March 8, 2015. |
The civil rights movement was in full
swing. Despite advances, and the recent passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,
many African Americans were still not registered to vote. The protest of Bloody
Sunday and the March 7, 1965 March from Selma, Alabama was at the center of the
blacks right to vote, and how they fought to overcome oppression. It would
further promote the Civil Rights Movement.
A voter registration campaign was held in
Selma, Alabama where authorities attempted to stop the efforts of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to register black voters. The city had
a history of opposing and trying to block registration of black voters. These African
Americans were oppressed by the government simply because of the color of their
skin. They had the same right to vote as fellow Americans and were being
treated unfairly and were not seen as equals. With the help of Martin Luther
King Jr, there were a series of demonstrations, protesting the blocking of the
registration of black voters. During one of these demonstrations on February
18, 1965, a protester, Jimmy Lee Jackson, was shot and killed by Alabama State
Troopers.
This caused leaders of the Civil Right
Movement and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to react. They
decided to march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital in Montgomery to
speak to the governor themselves. Led by John Lewis, chairmen of the SNCC, and
Hosea Williams with the SCLC, six hundred demonstrators met at a church
downtown and marched that day. It started out as a peaceful protest of the
fifty-four-mile march but when they crossed the Edmond Pettus Bridge over the
Alabama River, they saw a blockade on the other side. The bridge itself was
symbolic of the racial hate against the African Americans, since it was named
after Edmund Pettus, a confederate general and leader in the Ku Klux Klan. Now
the racial hate and tension were reinforced. Police, state troopers, and
sheriff deputies were there with billy clubs and bullwhips in their hands. Some
fell and were trampled. They ordered the demonstrators to turn around, but they
refused, and an ugly scene unfolded. Police then shot tear gas into the crowds,
pushing them back across the bridge. They hit protesters with their billy
clubs, injuring many. The marchers were fearful and screaming but the
protestors did not fight back. According to the FBI summary following the
violence on Bloody Sunday, the sheriff officers and troops beat the
demonstrators without any “apparent provocation” on their part, aside from
refusing to disperse. This was such an egregious violation of the civil rights
of African Americans.
Image of State troopers swing billy clubs to break up a civil right voting march in Selma, Alabama, March 7, 1965. Image from John Lewis, chairman of the SNCC (in the foreground), is the being beaten by state troopers. Newsweek, “Reliving Selma’s Bloody Sunday” Stuart Miller, March 18, 2016.
Television captured the entire protest. This would be a pivotal piece of
evidence in the civil rights movement. When “Bloody Sunday’’ footage was
broadcast and viewed by Americans, they were shocked and appalled at the images
of the protest. The television footage gathered widespread national support
with the American public. One of the leaders, John Lewis, gave an eyewitness
account, testifying in court as to the events of that day. He was struck with a
club and when he tried to get up, beaten a second time. Then he found himself
in the midst of tear gas, which caused him to vomit. He suffered a fractured
skull from the assault of the authorities.
Martin Luther King called for civil rights
advocates to come to Selma, Alabama and march again. Although tensions were
escalating, the march just a few days later was peaceful. When met with
resistance on the other side of the bridge they knelt and prayed. The marchers
were turned back a second time by the authorities.
Due to the testimony of Lewis and other
facts, finally, a judge ruled to allow them to march to Montgomery with the
protection of the courts. Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. in his ruling wrote” The
law is clear that the right to petition one’s government for the redress of
grievances may be exercised in large groups…,” and “these rights may be
exercised by marching, even along public highways.” This time, with federal
protection, the march was successful.
The impact of the four day march led to
the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
by President Lyndon Johnson. The determination of the protestors and those
oppressed, made a difference. Through the efforts of the civil rights leaders,
the blacks were able to overcome government oppression and gained their legal
civil right to vote in the twentieth century.
Your passage on Bloody Sunday was well written, it brought me in and made want to read more. Before reading your post I did not know Bloody Sunday. What the authorities put them protesters through was morally wrong. African already had the right to vote from the 15ht amendment, but in the south it shows how much the white south did not want African Americans being part of voting even though they already had the right to. They were protesting the blacks right to vote which the government and the people in the south were trying to not allow. This connects to our Gaudium et spes in the line "citizens are oppressed by a public authority overstepping its competence", it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights and the rights other citizens against the abuse of authority. That is what is exercised on Bloody Sunday. Blacks protested for their voting rights and the voting rights for other blacks.
ReplyDeleteThis comment is from Brandon:
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post it became clear that many cities in the South clearly did not want change and were willing to be violent to secure it. It is interesting how they were met with a blockade at the bridge named after Edmund Bridge. It shows how enriched the South was with the confederate and the Klan, that they would name a bridge after him and that is where the attack happened. The March to Montgomery connects to my post on the March on Washington because it was in the prime of the Civil Rights Movement and both are examples of a mass peaceful protest that resulted in huge change for African Americans.