Civil rights leaders understood the significance of that right to vote. Now we must fight to preserve – and use – those rights
The United States is at a monumental crossroads in the year 2020. As a presidential election awaits in the very near future, so many of the civil rights that countless Americans fought for – and were beaten, imprisoned and even killed for – are on the line. This weekend, we remember one of those pivotal moments in history that helped shape the course of the civil rights movement and the trajectory of our nation.
It was 55 years ago when nonviolent demonstrators in Selma, Alabama attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on their way to the state capital of Montgomery in their push for voting rights for African Americans. At the foot of the bridge, they were met by Alabama state troopers on horseback armed with billy clubs and pepper spray. “Bloody Sunday” as it would come to be known left dozens hospitalized, hundreds (including children) traumatized and the country disgusted. But what it also did was galvanize even more solidarity as many other protests, sit-ins and marches took place everywhere comprised of a cross-section of Americans. A federal court order permitted a protest from Selma to Montgomery a few weeks later under the protection of the National Guard. Bloody Sunday, the peaceful marches of Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and others, as well as the public’s support eventually pushed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act which was finally signed into law later that summer.
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Source: Elections - theguardian.com
