Protesters marching on Selma, 1965
The Selma to Montgomery marches occurred between 7 and 25 March 1965 when thousands of Civil Rights movement supporters marched on the cities of Selma and Montgomery, Alabama to fight for their constitutional right to vote. The protests were caused by the literacy tests implemented to discriminate against African-Americans, as well as the murder of Deacon Jimmie Lee Jackon by an Alabama state trooper during a peaceful protest. State troopers used billy clubs and tear gas to attack protesters marching on the city, and Amelia Boynton was beaten unsconscious; a picture of this event was circulated across the world. On 9 March, another march took place, and white pastor James Reeb was beaten to death by segregationists during that march. On 15 March, President Lyndon B. Johnson responded to Reeb's murder with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Johnson sent 2,000 US Army soldiers and 1,900 Alabama National Guard troops to protect thousands of protesters as they marched down US Route 80 (the "Jefferson Davis" Highway) to the State Capitol building in Montgomery on 25 March. 25,000 people entered the capitol that day to support voting rights, and Martin Luther King, Jr. told his supporters that their rights would be achieved soon, saying, "How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."
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