'Bloody Sunday' Attack at Edmund Pettus Bridge / U.S. Congress Approves Voting Rights Act of 1965

'Bloody Sunday' Attack at Edmund Pettus Bridge (Side 1) image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015

1. 'Bloody Sunday' Attack at Edmund Pettus Bridge (Side 1)

Inscription.

'Bloody Sunday' Attack at Edmund Pettus Bridge, also, U.S. Congress Approves Voting Rights Act of 1965. . 'Bloody Sunday' Attack at Edmund Pettus Bridge. A voting registration campaign in 1965 turned tragic Feb. 17 when an Alabama state trooper fatally shot Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion. It prompted a protest march from Selma to Montgomery that triggered a milestone event in the Civil Rights Movement. On March 7, John Lewis and Hosea Williams led a group of 600 African Americans from Brown Chapel AME Church six blocks and across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. State Public Service Director Al Lingo ordered armed troopers to attack the marchers, hospitalizing 50. Two weeks later, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy led a court-approved march with federal protection. It covered 54 miles and reached the State Capitol on March 25. In a speech before 25,000, King said "the arch of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." Racists killed Boston minister James Reeb on March 11 and Detroit housewife Viola Gregg Liuzzo on March 25. The marker was unveiled in March 2015 during the 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the Selma Voting Rights Movement. , U.S. Congress Approves Voting Rights Act of 1965. Television coverage of 'Bloody Sunday' shocked millions and galvanized support for Congress to remove obstacles that prevented minorities from voting. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on Aug. 6. As a result, many blacks won local elections in the South. In 2007, a bridge crossing reenactment attracted presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. When Obama won the Democratic nomination the following year, he spoke of the bridge in Selma in his acceptance speech. In 2009, nearly two million witnessed the inauguration of America's first black president., "Selma," the Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay film about voting rights, was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award shortly before the 50th anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday.'

'Bloody Sunday' Attack at Edmund Pettus Bridge
A voting registration campaign in 1965 turned tragic Feb. 17 when an Alabama state trooper fatally shot Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion. It prompted a protest march from Selma to Montgomery that triggered a milestone event in the Civil Rights Movement.
On March 7, John Lewis and Hosea Williams led a group of 600 African Americans from Brown Chapel AME Church six blocks and across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. State Public Service Director Al Lingo ordered armed troopers to attack the marchers, hospitalizing 50.
Two weeks later, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy led a court-approved march with federal protection. It covered 54 miles and reached the State Capitol on March 25. In a speech before 25,000, King said "the arch of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." Racists killed Boston minister James Reeb on March 11 and Detroit housewife Viola Gregg Liuzzo on March 25.
The marker was unveiled

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in March 2015
during the 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the Selma Voting Rights Movement

U.S. Congress Approves Voting Rights Act of 1965
Television coverage of 'Bloody Sunday' shocked millions and galvanized support for Congress to remove obstacles that prevented minorities from voting. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on Aug. 6. As a result, many blacks won local elections in the South.
In 2007, a bridge crossing reenactment attracted presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. When Obama won the Democratic nomination the following year, he spoke of the bridge in Selma in his acceptance speech. In 2009, nearly two million witnessed the inauguration of America's first black president.

"Selma," the Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay film about voting rights, was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award shortly before the 50th anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday.'

Erected 2015 by the Alabama Tourism Department.

Topics and series.

U.S. Congress Approves Voting Rights Act of 1965 Marker (Side 2) image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015

2. U.S. Congress Approves Voting Rights Act of 1965 Marker (Side 2)

This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Government & Politics. In addition, it is included in the Former U.S. Presidents: #36 Lyndon B. Johnson, and the Former U.S. Presidents: #44 Barack Obama series lists. A significant historical date for this entry is February 17, 1965.

Location. Marker has been permanently removed. It was located near 32° 24.388′ N, 87° 1.14′ W. Marker was in Selma, Alabama, in Dallas County. Marker was at the intersection of Broad Street (Business U.S. 80) and Water Avenue, on the right when traveling north on Broad Street. Touch for map. Marker was at or near this postal address: 1112 Water Ave, Selma AL 36703, United States of America.

We have been informed that this sign or monument is no longer there and will not be replaced. This page is an archival view of what was.

No evidence of any marker being here. Two markers hit by vehicles over time. image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, May 28, 2023

3. No evidence of any marker being here. Two markers hit by vehicles over time.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this location. This Tablet Commemorates the Visit of Lafayette (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Water Avenue (about 300 feet away); Edmund Pettus Bridge (about 300 feet away); Site of Selma-Dallas County’s 1st Bridge 1884-1940 (about 300 feet away); St. James Hotel (about 400 feet away); The Sleeping Prophet (about 400 feet away); Ecor Bienville (about 400 feet away); Sgt Robert Weakley Patton (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Selma.

More about this marker. This marker was broken in a car crash.
Another marker, The Selma Movement (#37662), was located in this exact spot and was also broken in a car crash.

Also see . . .
1. Selma, Alabama, (Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965). From BlackPast.org (Submitted on March 26, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)

2. Wikipedia article on Voting Rights Act of 1965.

View up Broad Street from marker. image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015

4. View up Broad Street from marker.

(Submitted on March 26, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)

View of Edmund Pettus Bridge from marker. image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015

5. View of Edmund Pettus Bridge from marker.

Edmund Pettus Bridge across Alabama River. image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015

6. Edmund Pettus Bridge across Alabama River.

Edmund Pettus was a Confederate general during the Civil War, during which he was captured three times. After the war he was a Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan and a Democratic U.S. Senator.

Photographed By Pat Filippone, September 26, 2016

7. Edmund Pettus Bridge across Alabama River

View is travelling north.

View from Washington Street of Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River. image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, July 30, 2014

8. View from Washington Street of Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River.

Second time a marker at this same spot has been hit in car crash. image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, June 1, 2020

9. Second time a marker at this same spot has been hit in car crash.

As of May 28, 2023, even the pole is gone.

Bloody Sunday - Alabama police attack Selma-to-Montgomery Marchers, 1965 image. Click for full size.

FBI photo via Wikipedia Commons, March 7, 1965

10. Bloody Sunday - Alabama police attack Selma-to-Montgomery Marchers, 1965

Credits. This page was last revised on May 28, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 26, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 2,152 times since then and 155 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on March 26, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 3. submitted on May 28, 2023, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 4, 5, 6. submitted on March 26, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 7. submitted on October 8, 2016, by Pat Filippone of Stockton, California. 8. submitted on October 8, 2016, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 9. submitted on June 1, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 10. submitted on February 17, 2018, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio.