Selma, Lord, Selma

The tour left Montgomery this morning for Selma. We rode the 50-mile route down Alabama Highway 80 to the location of the dramatic 1965 campaign for voting rights organized by members of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and SCLC (King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference). During the ride, Professor Bond made that case that the significance of this chapter was that it propelled the platform of the movement from "visibility to influence." Prior to the Selma campaign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been signed into law banning segregation in public facilities. After Selma, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be signed with president Lyndon Baines Johnson working the immortal and ubiquitous words of the movement, "We Shall Overcome," into his justification for the legislation.

The rewards, however, were not reaped without significant costs. Sheriff Jim Clark, a racial extremist, made every effort to instill order in the small town--including the use of cattle prods against protesters. Beatings became an almost common occurrence--most memorable on "Bloody Sunday" as marchers were billy clubbed by Selma police and Alabama state troopers as they exited Selma via the Edmund Pettus Bridge on 7 March 1965. Four protester, or supporters of the protest, sacrificed their lives over the course of the events. The names of Jimmie Lee Jackson, James Reeb, Jonathan Daniels, and Viola Liuzzo still carry weight in this small town.

The culmination of the Selma campaign came over five days in late March 1965 as supporters from across the country descended on the town in an effort to march to Montgomery and bring attention to the continued injustices practiced in Alabama. Some 25,000 people joined luminaries like Martin Luther King for the march. Famously, he delivered his "How Long? Not Long!" speech on the steps of the state capitol to rousing support.

Our tour took us to two museums and two historic sites. The National Park Service has recently opened the Marchers Memorial and Interpretive Center along highway 80 between Montgomery and Selma. It is a powerful museum. The introductory film was one of the best I've seen on the trip (luckily the gift shop sells copies of "Never Lose Sight of Freedom"). The museum itself is very interactive and accounts the history of the area from the early twentieth century struggle for voting rights to the 1965 protests and marches.

In Selma, we toured the National Voting Rights Museum--an independent operation that strives to focus on the "foot soldiers" of the Selma campaign. Most significant to me was the "I was there" wall, where the operators invite anyone (including the mayor of Selma in 1965 and former state troopers) to write their thoughts on their participation in the event.

Next we proceeded to the historic Brown Chapel AME church. The church was the location for most, if not all, of the mass meetings over the course of 1965. It was the only church to willingly defy a court injunction against more than three black citizens gathering in any place. Brown Chapel seats approximately 1000 and was host to luminaries of the Civil Rights Movement like Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X.

Finally, our group walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge together. My sense is that we all had Congressman John Lewis on our mind as we reached the pinnacle of the bridge. He, very famously, was leading what became the Bloody Sunday march. He told us that after that beating, he had no recollection of how he safely got back to the Brown Chapel area. The walk was important to take, but paled in comparison to the drama of 1965.