Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot dead in a restaurant in the city of Marion, Alabama. On the night of February18, 1965, approximately 500 people left Zion United Methodist Church in Marion and attempted a peaceful walk to the Perry County Jail about a half a block away where SCLC field worker James Orange was being held. A line of Marion City police, sheriff’s deputies and Alabama State Troopers met them. Street lights were abruptly turned off and the police began to beat the protestors. Then 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson with his mother and grandfather ran into Mack’s Café behind the church and were pursued by Alabama State Troopers.
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When the troopers began to attack them in the restaurant, Jimmie Lee tried to protect his mother and Fowler shot him twice in the abdomen. Mr. Jackson died at Good Samaritan Hospital eight days later. Jimmie Lee Jackson’s death prompted the call for a march from Selma to Montgomery on March 7, 1965 for the right to vote. On that fateful day, six hundred peaceful marchers flanked two by two, headed east out of Selma on U.S. Route 80. They got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away, where state and local lawmen attacked them on horse back with billy clubs and tear gas. That day became known as Bloody Sunday and helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
After the brutal attack on the marchers, Dr. King sent a telegram around the country asking for ministers of all faiths to come to Selma, Alabama to march to Montgomery, Alabama two days after Bloody Sunday, and simultaneously the Federal Court issued a restraining order prohibiting the march.With 2000-3000 people of all races waiting to march, Dr. King made a decision to continue the march in defiance of the Federal Court order. The second march began on March 9. The marchers sang "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round". The Alabama state troopers met them when they reached the bottom of the Edmund Pettus Bridge once again. The marchers dropped to their knees and prayed. After prayers they rose and turned the march back to Brown Chapel Church, avoiding another confrontation with state troopers and skirting the issue of whether to obey Judge Johnson’s court order. This march became known as Turnaround Tuesday. Finally a Federal Court granted permission for the Selma to Montgomery march and on March 21, over 3500 people of all races, including ministers of all faiths, leaders from major civil rights organizations and celebrities.
The Spark
The people of Selma had enough and after the incident of Jimmie Lee Jackson they were not going to allow another night to pass without taking action on injustice so they mobilized.
The Movement
The marching activists and leaders all assembled and paired in twos to take on a journey to march from Selma to Montgomery willing to face their fate which stood at the end of Edmund Pettus Bridge.
The Result
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, lead a march for black voting rights from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital in Montgomery.
Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," the Selma-to-Montgomery March, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Selma and the Alabama Black Belt were the battlegrounds for the Voting Rights Movement that resulted in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Alabamians stood up and peacefully fought for the right to vote. SNCC, SCLC, national churches and religious organizations, civil rights and labor organizations, and stars of the Movement supported the Alabama Voting Rights Movement. We will commemorate and thank them for their work, leadership and sacrifice.
Countdown To The Official 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday,
the Selma-to-Montgomery March, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Remember. Recommit. Restore.
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