INTRODUCTION
In 1965, civil rights activists planned a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to present the case for securing voting rights for African Americans at the state capitol. It took three attempts to complete the march. During the first attempt, on March 7, now known as Bloody Sunday, the nonviolent marchers were brutally beaten at the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma. During the second attempt, on March 9, the marchers stopped at the bridge and prayed. Finally, on March 25, the marchers, protected by federalized National Guard troops, reached their destination. The marches highlighted the violent suppression of Black voters and helped galvanize national support for federal voting rights legislation.
Values to Appreciate in the Text:
Equality, Peaceful Assembly, Justice
EXCERPTS
I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.
I urge every member of both parties, Americans of all religions and of all colors, from every section of this country, to join me in that cause.
At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.
There, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans. Many were brutally assaulted. One good man, a man of God, was killed.
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Our fathers believed that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish, it must be rooted in democracy. The most basic right of all was the right to choose your own leaders. The history of this country, in large measure, is the history of the expansion of that right to all of our people.
Many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. But about this there can and should be no argument. Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right.
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Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.
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The time of justice has now come. I tell you that I believe sincerely that no force can hold it back. It is right in the eyes of man and God that it should come. And when it does, I think that day will brighten the lives of every American.