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Peter Azra Rye Waldman Gardner Rogers Rhetoric 105, Section Q10 14 April 2004 The Selma-Montgomery March The Civil Rights Movement began in order to bring equal rights and equal voting rights to black citizens of the US. This was accomplished through persistent demonstrations, one of these being the Selma-Montgomery March. This march, lead by Martin Luther King Jr., targeted at the disenfranchisement of negroes in Alabama due to the literacy tests. Tension from the governor and state troopers of Alabama led the state, and the whole nation, to be caught in the violent chaos caused by protests and riots by marchers. However, this did not prevent the March from Selma to Montgomery to accomplish its goals abolishing the literacy tests and allowing black citizens the right to vote. At the time, Selma was populated by 15,100 Negroes and 14,400 whites, a probable place to start such a cause. The protests began when Martin Luther King Jr., and a couple of other people, registered in a white hotel. James Baldwin was there. However, when more blacks tried to register, they were arrested by the county sheriff. This resulted in marches and protests. One of the first riots involved around 400 demonstrators who were dispersed by state troopers. During the protest, one man, Jim Lee Jackson, was shot and killed, presumably by a state trooper. (“Central Point” 23). Enraged with the death of Jim, around 650 protestors gathered again on March 7 and attempted a march through Selma to Montgomery, ignoring Governor Wallace’s orders not to march. They again met with state troopers and a crueler response. A wall of state troopers was formed at US Highway 80 to stop the march. After refusing the orders from the police to stop the march, the troopers took action. The protestors were beat by mounted officers, equipped with bull whips and clubs, and suffocated with tear gas. The brutality from this event can be summarized by one marcher who was reported saying, “My God, we’re being killed.” This malevolent act sent the entire nation in an uproar, sparking riots in major US cites and even in Toronto. The protests and riots gained so much popular support as to gain the attention of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who declared that he “deplored the brutality.” King was also determined to march from Selma to Montgomery in order to present the governor with the proposal for voting rights and to continue fighting the oppression (“Central Point” 24). March 16 saw a demonstration in Montgomery, Alabama in which 580 demonstrators planned to march “from the Jackson Street Baptist Church to the Montgomery County Courthouse” (Reed 26). These protestors included a large number of northern college students. They met a police line a few blocks from the Courthouse and were forbidden from proceeding because “they did not have a parade permit” (Reed 26). Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. Eventually a few of the demonstrators dared to cross the street, led by James Forman who had organized the march. When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. Riding into the small group of protestors, they forced most to withdraw, but a few stood fast around a utility pole where horsemen began to beat them. “A posseman dressed in green clothes and a white 10-gallon hat stepped up on foot, and while the horses partially hid him from view, began clubbing the demonstrators” (Reed 26). The horsemen continued beating the demonstrators, and “[t]he sound of the nightstick carried up and down the block” (Reed 26). The horsemen moved to the large group of demonstrators once the small group was dispersed and forced them back to their church where the march began. Ten to twelve policemen on motorcycles tried to keep the angry protestors on the sidewalks, and “[f]our of the policemen raced by an outer edge of the crowd, missing some of the people by inches” (Reed 26). The crowed was finally calmed by James Forman and Rev. James Bevel. The casualty list counted eight injuries, two of the resulting in hospitalization. Afterward, the city itself apologized publicly due to embarrassment of the police tactics. Dr. King demanded an apology from the sheriff, blaming him for the beatings. The same day as the Montgomery incident, a plan for a 50-mile march led by Dr. King from Selma to Montgomery was submitted to the District Court for judicial approval. Governor Wallace declared that he would appeal if the plan passed judicial review. The plan called for a five-day, four-night march, allowing for an unlimited number of marchers within the cities of Selma and Montgomery, and limiting the number of marchers along the two-lane portions of highway 80. It also said that food, toilet facilities, garbage pickup, first aid, and transportation services would be provided (“Plan”). It was approved the following day to the dismay of Governor Wallace, who immediately claimed that he could not support the event. This stimulated President Johnson to offer the US national guard if Governor Wallace would refuse to provide the necessary protection to the marchers. In a formal address given by Governor Wallace, the Governor claimed that the protest march was the product of Communist ideology. “[The demonstrators] are mobs employing the street-warfare tactics of the Communists” (“Excerpts”). The Alabama legislature “adopted a resolution calling the protest march ‘asinine and ridiculous’” (Phillips 1) and refused to provide protection to the marchers on the basis that “Alabama was too poor to pay the cost of mobilizing the National Guard to police the Selma-to-Montgomery Freedom March” (Franklin 1). President Johnson therefore ordered US National Guard units to provide protection for the marchers as they journey over 50 miles from Selma to Montgomery (Yerxa 1). The Selma-to-Montgomery march itself had a monstrous impact nationwide. People flocked from across the country to join the protest march in both the Selma and Montgomery legs of the journey. March 21, the first day, drew 2700 demonstrators who marched 11 miles out of Selma. Food was shipped to the marchers by bus, and toilets were provided by trucks (“Hundreds”). The march continued the next day down US highway 80 with a selected group of 300 marchers. Among those selected to march were those who suffered from arrests and police brutality during the recent protests and marches. Also included in the 300 selected to travel the two-lane portion of US 80 were a few whites, such as two nuns from Kansas and California; a one-legged man on crutches from Michigan, Jim Letherer; and “the unidentified little man with long red hair and a long red beard who peeled down to his shorts at noon” (“Rights Marchers”). The marchers, however, did not journey unmolested. At one point of their journey they were bombarded by leaflets from the White Citizens Action, Inc., and along US 80 they came upon one of several billboards depicting Dr. King in a Communist school (“Rights Marchers”). Once the marchers reached the outskirts of Montgomery, they began to swell in numbers, eventually reaching 25,000 by the conclusion of the march before the Montgomery State Capitol building (“25,000”). Assortments of people throughout the US made their way to Montgomery to join the final leg of the rights march, including James Baldwin, “Roy Williams, the executive director of the NAACP; Whitney M. Young, director of the National Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Bayard A. Rustin, who, with Mr. Randolph was one of the organizers of the March on Washington in 1963; and John Lewis, president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee” (“25,000”). After the speakers were done, twenty people, led by Rev. Joseph E. Lowrey, went up to the Capitol to present a petition to Governor Wallace, who, in his absence was replace by his executive secretary. “The petitions never left Mr. Lowrey’s hands” (“25,000”). The Selma-to-Montgomery march was considered by many of the speakers to be the “greatest demonstration in the history of the civil rights movement” (“25,000”). Originally planned to be a suffrage march, it represented a call for equality, humanity, and rights by its conclusion on March 25. Inspired by the protestors’ battle, clergymen from all around the nation put their lives on hold in order to fulfill their obligations they felt for the marchers in Selma. One such clergyman, Reverend James Reeb, came across an unfortunate fate one day when he was attacked by four white men. They screamed a profane word at Reeb and then hit him on the head, sending him to a fatal state. Two days later, he died but was recognized across the nation from organizations such as the American Jewish Committee and the North Dakota’s Democratic Governor who expressed their sympathy towards Reeb’s family. Service marches were held for Reeb on March 15 (“Central Point” 27). It would seem, or it would seem nice, that after the march was over and the protestors were given the right to vote the trouble would be over. However, this did not happen for Mrs. Liuzzo, who was murdered while driving citizens back to Selma. Liuzzo was a supporter of the protests and had taken part in a protest at Detroit on March 16. She marched during the first day of the Selma-Montgomery March, and then participated by driving marchers back and forth from the march to Selma. After the protest, while returning to Montgomery to pick up more marchers on their way back to Selma, she was shot by four men who were connected to the Ku Klux Klan (“On Route 80” 22). Ironically, the Liuzzo murder and the Reeb incident received more publicity than most other deaths during the riots. Negroes who died fighting for their rights such as Jim Jackson did not receive the coverage that Liuzzo or Reeb did. Neither did Martin Luther King Jr. receive publicity for his freedom speeches, which he gave throughout this ordeal for civil rights. This simply shows how far their efforts really reached. Even though they were not aiming for total acceptance by white society, the sympathizers for the marchers who report on this event fail to acknowledge the people truly involved in it. Most of
the coverage of the march seems to be centered around the white
people involved in it. For example, there is more information of
the clergymen’s response to the march rather than the thoughts of
the protestors. The clergymen become protestors too, but this isn’t
their fight. They came to help, but they receive more To find our information, we looked first through the microfilm for the New York Times newspaper, which provided numerous articles. We found certain titles for articles in the newspaper through the Library Catalogue, and we searched the microfilm for useful information. There were also articles in Time magazine, along with some editorials on the articles, each varying in expressions. To find the Time articles, we simply took the edition that came out a month or two after the March, and searched through the magazine. Under the section “Nation,” we found articles pertaining to the March. The March 19, 1965 edition of Time magazine featured the Selma-Montgomery March along with a drawing of Martin Luther King Jr. on the cover. The Time magazine cover art shows the importance the March had on the nation. We had a little more trouble searching for the books because we were unable to find them on the shelves; however, we managed to locate a few and to photocopy important information. In finding the newspaper articles and books, we used the Library Online Catalogue and searched under the search terms or a combination of the search terms: Selma March, Montgomery March (provided the most useful results), Selma-Montgomery March, Liuzzo murder, and 1965. One of the books that we looked up a book review for was entitled Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by David J. Garrow; written in 1978. In one review, as in most other reviews, the book was praised for its captivation of the drama involved with the protest and for the detail that Garrow provides. In this one particular review, Garrow points out in that the lack of economic power in black Americans still prevents them from being able to gain the full right to vote. Works Cited Attorneys of the Selma, Ala. Negro voter-registration movement. “Text of the Plan for Selma-to-Montgomery March.” New York Times. 17 mar.1965: 1 Baldwin, James. “Down at the Cross.” 1963. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84. “Civil Rights.” Time Magazine. 26 Mar. 1965: 19-20 “Civil Rights.” Time Magazine. 2 Apr. 1965: 21-22 “Civil Rights.” Time Magazine. 19 Mar. 1965: 23-28 Franklin, Ben A. “President Weighs Move.” New York Times. 20 Mar. 1965: 1+ Garrow, David J. Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. New York: New Haven and London Yale University Press. 1978 Phillips, Cabell. “Johnson Offers to Call Up Guard If Wallace Won’t.” New York Times. 19 Mar. 1965: 1+ Reed, Roy. “He Says ‘No Wave of Racism Can Stop Us Now.’” New York Times. 26 Mar. 1965: 1+ Reed, Roy. “Hundreds Pour Into Selma For March to Montgomery.” New York Times. 21 Mar. 1965: 1+ Reed, Roy. “Police Rout 600 in Montgomery; 8 Marchers Hurt.” New York Times. 17 Mar. 1965: 1 + Reed, Roy. “Rights Marchers Push Into Region Called Hostile.” New York Times. 23 Mar. 1965: 1+ Sobel, Lester A. “Vote Campaign in Selma.” Civil Rights 1960-66. New York: Facts on File 1967. Wallace, George. “Excerpts from Wallace’s Speech on the Alabama Rights Movement March.” New York Times. 19 Mar. 1965: 20 |