By: History.com Editors

1965

Martin Luther King Jr. begins the march from Selma to Montgomery

History.com Editors

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.leading marchers as they begin the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march from Brown's Chapel Church in Selma, Alabama. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Published: February 09, 2010

Last Updated: March 02, 2025

In the name of African American voting rights, 3,200 civil rights demonstrators in Alabama, led by Martin Luther King Jr., begin a historic march from Selma to Montgomery, the state’s capital. Federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and FBI agents were on hand to provide safe passage for the march, which twice had been turned back by Alabama state police at Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Selma to Montgomery March

Newsreel footage of the freedom march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1965, King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) decided to make the small town of Selma the focus of their drive to win voting rights for African Americans in the South. Alabama’s governor, George Wallace, was a vocal opponent of the African-American civil rights movement, and local authorities in Selma had consistently thwarted efforts by the Dallas County Voters League and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to register local Black citizens.

Although Governor Wallace promised to prevent it from going forward, on March 7 some 600 demonstrators, led by SCLC leader Hosea Williams and SNCC leader John Lewis, began the 54-mile march to the state capital. After crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met by Alabama state troopers and posse men who attacked them with nightsticks, tear gas and whips after they refused to turn back.

Several of the protesters were severely beaten, and others ran for their lives. The incident was captured on national television and outraged many Americans.

King, who was in Atlanta at the time, promised to return to Selma immediately and lead another attempt. On March 9, King led another marching attempt, but turned the marchers around when state troopers again blocked the road.

On March 21, U.S. Army troops and federalized Alabama National Guardsmen escorted the marchers across Edmund Pettus Bridge and down Highway 80. When the highway narrowed to two lanes, only 300 marchers were permitted, but thousands more rejoined the Alabama Freedom March as it came into Montgomery on March 25.

On the steps of the Alabama State Capitol, King addressed live television cameras and a crowd of 25,000, just a few hundred feet from the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where he got his start as a minister in 1954.

Timeline

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1678

Reward offered for identity of pamphlet author

The London Gazette offers a reward to anyone revealing the author of a pamphlet called An Account of the Growth of Popery. The pamphlet, it was later revealed, had been published anonymously by Andrew Marvell in 1677.

1778

Massacre at Hancock’s Bridge

On March 21, 1778, just three days after British Loyalists and Hessian mercenary forces assault the local New Jersey militia at Quinton’s Bridge, three miles from Salem, New Jersey, the same contingent surprises the colonial militia at Hancock’s Bridge, five miles from Salem.

1804

Napoleonic Code approved in France

After four years of debate and planning, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte enacts a new legal framework for France, known as the “Napoleonic Code.” The civil code gave post-revolutionary France its first coherent set of laws concerning property, colonial affairs, the family and individual rights.

1871

Journalist begins search for Dr. Livingstone

Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his famous search through Africa for the missing British explorer Dr. David Livingstone.

Depiction of Livingstone’s 1843 lion attack (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

1918

Germany begins major offensive on the Western Front

On March 21, 1918, near the Somme River in France, the German army launches its first major offensive on the Western Front in two years.

1943

Another plot to kill Hitler foiled

On March 21, 1943, the second military conspiracy plan to assassinate Hitler in a week fails.

1947

President Truman orders loyalty checks of federal employees

In response to fears and Congressional investigations into communism in the United States, President Harry S. Truman issues an executive decree establishing a sweeping loyalty investigation of federal employees.

1952

The Moondog Coronation Ball is history’s first rock concert

On March 21, 1952, Cleveland hosts an event now recognized as history’s first major rock-and-roll show: the Moondog Coronation Ball.

1956

James Wong Howe becomes first Asian American to win an Academy Award

Noted for his innovative use of wide-angle shots, low-key lighting and deep focus, cinematographer James Wong Howe becomes the first Asian American to win an Academy Award on March 21, 1956.

James Wong

1960

Massacre in Sharpeville

In the Black township of Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, South Africa, Afrikaner police open fire on a group of unarmed Black South African demonstrators, killing 69 people and wounding 180 in a hail of submachine-gun fire. The demonstrators were protesting against the South African government’s restriction of nonwhite travel. In the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, protests broke out in Cape Town, and more than 10,000 people were arrested before government troops restored order.

1963

Alcatraz closes its doors

Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco's Bay closes down and transfers its last prisoners. At its peak period of use in 1950s, “The Rock," or "America’s Devil Island," housed over 200 inmates at the maximum-security facility. Alcatraz remains an icon of American prisons for its harsh conditions and record for being inescapable.

1980

Famous “Dallas” cliffhanger airs

On March 21, 1980, J.R. Ewing, the character millions love to hate on television’s popular prime-time drama "Dallas," is shot by an unknown assailant. The shooting made the season-ending episode one of TV’s most famous cliffhangers, inspired widespread media coverage and left America wondering “Who shot J.R.?” for the next eight months. On November 21, 1980, the premiere episode of the show's third season solved the mystery, identifying Kristin Shepard, J.R.’s mistress (and his wife’s sister), as the culprit.

Larry Hagman

1980

President Carter announces Olympic boycott

On March 21, 1980, President Jimmy Carter announces that the U.S. will boycott the Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Moscow that summer. The announcement came after the Soviet Union failed to comply with Carter’s February 20, 1980, deadline to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

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Citation Information

Article title
Martin Luther King Jr. begins the march from Selma to Montgomery
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 22, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
March 02, 2025
Original Published Date
February 09, 2010

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