Was anyone killed in the Selma march?

On February 26, 1965, activist and deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson died after being shot several days earlier by state trooper James Bonard Fowler, during a peaceful march in nearby Marion, Alabama.

Who died on the Edmund Pettus Bridge?

Jimmie Lee Jackson
In February 1965, state troopers and locals in Marion, Alabama, started an armed confrontation with some 400 African-American unarmed demonstrators. Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot in the stomach, and he died eight days later.

What happened at the Selma march in 1965?

On March 7, 1965, when then-25-year-old activist John Lewis led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama and faced brutal attacks by oncoming state troopers, footage of the violence collectively shocked the nation and galvanized the fight against racial injustice.

Did John Lewis want the bridge renamed?

The bridge named after a Confederate general and the site of “Bloody Sunday” could be renamed after the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Lawmakers in Alabama announced legislation on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that will let the people of Selma vote on a new name for its most famous landmark, the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Why did protesters march from Selma to Montgomery?

After Jackson died of his wounds just over a week later in Selma, leaders called for a march to the state capital, Montgomery, to bring attention to the injustice of Jackson’s death, the ongoing police violence, and the sweeping violations of African Americans’ civil rights.

What happened in the march from Selma to Montgomery?

Selma March, also called Selma to Montgomery March, political march from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery, that occurred March 21–25, 1965. Together, these events became a landmark in the American civil rights movement and directly led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Why did Martin Luther King march from Selma to Montgomery?

Fifty years ago, on March 7, 1965, hundreds of people gathered in Selma, Alabama to march to the capital city of Montgomery. They marched to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote — even in the face of a segregationist system that wanted to make it impossible.

What happened after the march from Selma to Montgomery?

Less than five months after the last of the three marches, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965–the best possible redress of grievances. In 1996 the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail was created by Congress under the National Trails System Act of 1968.