The Story Of The Selma Voting Rights Marches In Photographs

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a momentous victory for civil rights activists, but one major obstacle remained in the path toward equal rights for African Americans: the right to vote. In the South, segregationists prevented African Americans from voting. Civil rights leaders believed it was time for strong action and chose Selma, Alabama, as the rallying point. There, the marches and protests captured the nation's attention. Through gripping primary source photographs, author David Aretha explores this important time in American history.

“Spider, we could have marched, we could have protested forever, but if it weren’t for guys like you, it would have been for nothing. The whole world saw your pictures. That’s why the Voting Rights Act passed.” —Martin Luther King, 1965 “Spider Martin, more than any other photographer of our time, has used his camera to document the struggle for civil rights and social change in the State of Alabama. . . . In viewing Spider’s collection, one is literally walking through the pages of American history.” —John Lewis, 1996 “It is largely because of [Martin’s] talent that we, as a people and a nation, so vividly remember ‘Bloody Sunday.’ Although violence broke out at many other places, and on many other days, the images from this critical day are forever emblazoned in the public consciousness.” —Andrew Young, 1992 On March 7, 1965, six hundred people led by John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, set out to march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery to demand the right to vote. The march ended violently on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, as Alabama state troopers beat and gassed the unresisting marchers. But images of “Bloody Sunday” seared the national conscience and helped galvanize the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year. Spider Martin captured many indelible images of Bloody Sunday as a photojournalist for the Birmingham News. His photographs of the Selma marches and the civil rights struggle were seen all over the world, appearing in such publications as Time, Life, Der Spiegel, Stern, the Saturday Evening Post, and Paris Match. Drawn from Martin’s archive at the Briscoe Center for American History, this book gathers several dozen of the most powerful and poignant images, many of which have never been published, for the first time in a single volume. A lasting testament to the courage of the civil rights generation, they also reveal a rookie photographer’s determination to bear witness to a movement that transformed the American nation.

Vivid storytelling brings American history to life and place readers in the shoes of ten people who experienced one of the most pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement - the marches from Selma to Montgomery. In March 1965 nonviolent activists, led by Martin Luther King Jr., began a series of marches in Alabama. They faced brutal resistance as they struggled for voting rights for African-Americans in the South and across the nation. Suspenseful, dramatic events unfold in chronological, interwoven stories from the different perspectives of people who experienced the event while it was happening. Narratives intertwine to create a breathless, What's Next? kind of read. Students gain a new perspective on historical figures as they learn about real people struggling to decide how best to act in a given moment.

Martin Luther King, Jr., called Birmingham, Alabama, the most segregated city in America. In 1963, he and other civil rights leaders believed it was time to change that. With marches and protests throughout the city, civil rights activists hoped the movement would draw national attention. Hundreds of young African Americans joined the cause, marching for equal rights. Angry segregationists reacted, violently. And it would play out in newspapers and on television screens across the country. Through dramatic primary source photographs, author David Aretha explores this crucial struggle of the Civil Rights Movement.

Explores how photography and television during the civil rights marches of the 1960s impacted the civil rights movement in the United States.

Civil rights have been in the news with the rise of Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem at NFL games, and more. Yet civil rights activists have many other causes they are fighting for, such as calling attention to police brutality and combating racism in everyday life. The Civil Rights Movement started in the 1800s and remains a prominent movement within our modern society. Find out how activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer set the stage for activists in modern times and learn how activists are speaking out today to expand rights for African Americans.

"In You Choose format, explores the history of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, including the struggles minorities had in achieving the right to vote, enforcement of the law, and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s"--

Protest seems to dominate the news these days. This volume serves as a primer for students hoping to get a handle on what roles they can play in the political landscape, both as students and concerned citizens. Historical context on the roles of protest and public assembly in American history and society is blended with an overview of the formal and informal rules surrounding these civic rights and duties. Incorporating iconic imagery of protest movements of the past and present, this book provides readers with everything they need to know to get involved with issues they care about.