This Day in History:, Selma to Montgomery March Begins.
March 21, 1965.
Led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., between 3,000 and
8,000 marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge
out of Selma on their way to Montgomery.
Over the next five days, they were protected by thousands
of federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and soldiers.
Their numbers would swell to around 25,000.
At the state capitol, King would give his
famous "How Long, Not Long" speech.
The march came just days
after the passage of the civil
rights legislation known as
the Voting Rights Act.
The passage of the legislation followed two
unsuccessful attempts at the march which ended
in violence between police and the peaceful protestors.
President Lyndon Johnson cited the violence,
which had been broadcast on national television,
as a turning point in American history.
How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr