At Selmaโs Edmund Pettus Bridge, police ordered demonstrators to disperse. One minute and five seconds after a two-minute warning was announced, the police advanced, wielding clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas.
The reporting and images of Bloody Sundayโs violence shocked the nation. In response to the events in Selma, President Johnson promised to write a voting rights act that would protect people of color when going to the polls and casting a ballot. Johnson finished writing the bill in eight days. Congress debated the legislation for nearly six months, but after some political arm-twisting by Johnson, the House and Senate eventually passed it.
The President signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6th, 1965.
A black-and-white photo of John Lewis (foreground) being beaten by a state trooper in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. The future congressman suffered a fractured skull.
Photo credit: Associated Press
Image source: Politico
On this day in 1965, more than 500 people marching for the right to vote in Selma, Alabama were attacked and beaten by police.
This was Bloody Sunday.
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