Civil Rights march in Selma, Alabama, attacked by police

Historical Context Note

Lucas Paul Richert (University of Saskatchewan)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Domains

Policing and Surveillance
Political Crises

Dates

Date of occurrence 1965-03-07

Places

United States (Location)

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On 7 March 1965, a peaceful civil rights demonstration in Selma, Alabama was brutally attacked by white police officers. Martin Luther King Jr. had organized the effort but did not personally lead the march which was supposed to go from Selma to Montgomery. The pretext for the protest was voter registration discrimination that still predominated in the wake of the Civil Rights Act. The crackdown (with tear gas and truncheons) on the 1500 peaceful demonstrators prompted President Johnson to pass the Voting Rights Act, another measure designed to ameliorate discrimination and prevention of voter registration.

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92 words

Citation: Richert, Lucas Paul. "Civil Rights march in Selma, Alabama, attacked by police". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=3441, accessed 26 November 2024.]

Civil Rights march in Selma, Alabama, attacked by police

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