Selma to Montgomery marches — 1965 march for African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote
The marches directly led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, removing barriers that had disenfranchised African Americans across the South for decades.
Key Facts
- March route distance
- 54 miles (87 km) from Selma to Montgomery
- Number of marches
- 3
- Arrests by end of February 1965
- 3,000
- Final march start date
- March 21, 1965
- Demonstrators at Capitol
- 25,000
- Voting Rights Act signed
- August 6, 1965
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Since the late 19th century, Jim Crow laws had systematically disenfranchised African Americans across the South. Voter registration drives in Selma beginning in 1963 were suppressed by local authorities. The killing of activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by a state trooper in February 1965 intensified demands for federal action to protect Black voting rights.
Three marches were organized along the 54-mile highway from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in March 1965. The first, on March 7, ended violently when state troopers attacked roughly 600 unarmed marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge — an event known as Bloody Sunday. The third march, escorted by federalized National Guard, successfully reached Montgomery on March 24, with 25,000 people rallying at the state capitol.
The widely televised violence of Bloody Sunday and the murder of James Reeb prompted national outrage. President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress on March 15, 1965, calling for new voting legislation. The resulting Voting Rights Act, signed on August 6, 1965, eliminated discriminatory obstacles to Black voter registration and became a landmark achievement of the civil rights movement.