When did Obama go to Selma?

On March 7, 2015, President of the United States Barack Obama delivered a speech at Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches on the subject of race relations within the United States.

What happened during the march on Selma Alabama?

State troopers and county possemen attacked the unarmed marchers with billy clubs and tear gas after they passed over the county line, and the event became known as Bloody Sunday. Law enforcement beat Boynton unconscious, and the media publicized worldwide a picture of her lying wounded on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

What happened at the 1965 Selma march for voting rights?

On 25 March 1965, Martin Luther King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, after a 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, where local African Americans, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC …

What happened in Selma Alabama in the spring of 1965?

On March 7, 1965, when then-25-year-old activist John Lewis led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama and faced brutal attacks by oncoming state troopers, footage of the violence collectively shocked the nation and galvanized the fight against racial injustice.

When was Selma march anniversary?

Fifty years ago, on March 7, 1965, hundreds of people gathered in Selma, Alabama to march to the capital city of Montgomery.

Who was president of the United States during the Selma march?

President Lyndon B. Johnson
On March 20, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson notifies Alabama’s Governor George Wallace that he will use federal authority to call up the Alabama National Guard in order to supervise a planned civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.

Who signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law?

President Lyndon Johnson
This act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

What happened on Edmund Pettus Bridge?

The Edmund Pettus Bridge was the site of the conflict of Bloody Sunday on March 7, 1965, when police attacked Civil Rights Movement demonstrators with horses, billy clubs, and tear gas as they were attempting to march to the state capital, Montgomery.

Who started Bloody Sunday?

Bloody Sunday began as a peaceful—but illegal—demonstration by some 10,000 people organized by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in opposition to the British government’s policy of interning suspected members of the IRA without trial.

Why did Obama go to Selma?

President Obama and the First Family joined thousands of Americans in Selma, Alabama to honor the sacrifice and bravery of the men and women who bled there in 1965, in support of voting rights for all African Americans. If playback doesn’t begin shortly, try restarting your device.

Is Selma an outlier in American history?

He stated, “Selma is not some outlier in the American experience”, but is “the manifestation of a creed written into our founding documents”, quoting the Preamble to the United States Constitution : We the People…in order to form a more perfect union. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

How did Selma change the world?

The events at Selma, Obama argued, triggered popular movements for civil rights elsewhere in the world: Young people behind the Iron Curtain would see Selma and eventually tear down that wall. Young people in Soweto would hear Bobby Kennedy talk about ripples of hope and eventually banish the scourge of apartheid.

Who was at the foot of Selma?

Yesterday, President Obama and the First Family joined thousands of Americans at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to honor the sacrifice and bravery of the men and women who bled there, on that very pavement exactly 50 years ago. Many of those original “foot soldiers” joined him yesterday, including Congressman John Lewis,…