Nearly half of the voting age population in Selma was black, but only one percent was registered to vote. That meant some 150 blacks were registered out of 15,000 eligible
Voting Sign up
Black people repeatedly attempted to sign up at the county courthouse, but were repeatedly turned away, and sometimes arrested by Sheriff Jim Clark
You are under arrest
Princella Howard remembered driving at night to Selma. The SLC office had heard there was a movement starting there, They wanted us to see. If it looked like something vital enough that we could work around the issue of voting and building a movement
Dr. King spoke at Jackson's funeral. He said that Jackson had been murdered by police “ in the name of the law”. by politicians who feed their listeners “ the state bread of hatred in the spoiled me of racism” by government that wouldn't protect the lies of its own citizens seeking the right to vote, and by every negro who passively accepts the evils of segregation and stands on the sidelines and struggle for justice
“In the name of law…. the state bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism… protects the lives of its own citizens seeking the right to vote…Every negro who passively accepts the evils of segregation and stands on the sidelines in the struggles for justice..
Reverend James Bevel of SCLC Codes for 50 mile march from Selma to the capital in Montgomery to protect Jackson's murder and to demand full voting rights for blacks
Alabama Governor George Wallace opposed the March; a demonstration protesting a police killing would receive national news coverage and would be bad publicity for Alabama. He announced that state troopers would block the March