The median income for a household in the city was $21,261, and the median income for a family was $28,345. These stories are left out of the movie because King was not in Selma when they happened. Middle schools include R.B. King was also in touch with the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who arranged for protection for another march. Activists planned a larger, more public march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery to publicize their cause. However, seven years later, blacks had not been able to elect a candidate of their choice to the city council. I suspect that fifty years later, with increased school segregation, police attacks on Black men, continued poverty, and the loss of voting rights protection, Dr. King would give a very similar speech. However, my greatest concern with the story told in the movie Selma is that it presents the final march from Selma to the Alabama state capital in Montgomery and the Voting Rights Act as a triumphant conclusion to the African American Civil Rights Movement. The movie's focus is on a very narrow historical timeframe, basically January to March 1965, the final stages of the struggle to secure federal support for voting rights for African Americans. Wilson sent a brigade to destroy the bridge across the Cahaba River at Centreville, which cut off most of Forrest's reinforcements from reaching the area. Get directions, maps, and traffic for Selma, AL. He had placed Gen. Eli Long's Division across the Summerfield Road with the Chicago Board of Trade Battery in support. On center stage in this version of the story is Martin Luther King. In the 20th century, African-Americans were also lynched for labor-organizing activities. The county courthouse and jail were scenes of numerous lynchings of African-Americans, as sometimes mobs would take prisoners from the jail and hang them before trial. Altogether this force numbered less than 4,000. After the change, five African-American Democrats were elected to the city council, including activist Frederick Douglas Reese, who became a major power in the city; five whites were also elected to the council.[17]. Many soldiers were struck down with clubbed muskets, but they kept pouring into the works with their greater numbers. The official website of Selma Alabama describes it as the "Queen City of the Black Belt" and the "Butterfly Capital of Alabama." They were anchored on the north and south by the Alabama River. Thousands joined the march along the way. The police intended to save Webb from a local lynch mob, but the mob abducted Webb from the jail and killed him. In consequence, Negroes are still impoverished aliens in an affluent society." The per capita income for the city was $13,369. Nearly half of Selma's residents were black, but because of the restrictive electoral laws and practices in place since the turn of the century, only one percent were registered to vote, preventing them from serving on juries or serving in local office. Altogether Wilson had 9,000 troops available for the assault. [9] All the members of the city council were elected by at-large voting. The Jim Crow laws and customs were enforced with violence. Selma became the seat of Dallas County in 1866 and the county courthouse was built there. The Mayor of Selma, George Patrick Evans, is African American, as is the City Council president, seven of the ten members of the City Council, the Chief of Police, and all five members of the school board. They left Selma heading to Montgomery. A year ago, Barack Obama addressed a group in Selma, AL commemorating the 1965 voting rights march. Other historical figures in this drama are assigned supporting roles (John Lewis), bit parts (the people of Selma), or play cartoon-like villains (George Wallace and J. Edgar Hoover) and King's foils (Lyndon Johnson). Even where the door has been forced partially open, mobility for the Negro is still sharply restricted. Selma was a trading center and market town during the antebellum years of King Cotton in the South. It provided for federal oversight and enforcement of voting rights for all citizens in state or jurisdictions where patterns of underrepresentation showed discrimination against certain populations such as ethnic minorities. DirecTV and Dish Network provide direct broadcast satellite television including both local and national channels to area residents. Frank Minis Johnson, Jr., the federal district court judge for the area who reviewed the injunction, decided in favor of the demonstrators, saying: The law is clear that the right to petition one's government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups ... and these rights may be exercised by marching, even along public highways. The official website of Selma Alabama describes it as the "Queen City of the Black Belt" and the "Butterfly Capital of Alabama." The council's members were elected at-large by the entire city, and the white majority had managed to control the elections. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.3% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.3% who were 65 years of age or older. King recognized the divisions within the movement as well as continuing desperation in the African American community in a 1967 speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, "Where Do We Go from Here?". Museums in the city include Sturdivant Hall, the National Voting Rights Museum, Historic Water Avenue, Martin Luther King, Jr. Street Historic Walking Tour, Old Depot Museum, Joe Calton Bates Children Education and History Museum, Vaughan-Smitherman Museum and Heritage Village. Actually Johnson was renown as a potty mouth who openly referred to Blacks as "niggers." Cultural events are held at the Performing Arts Center, and the Selma Art Guild Gallery. The Black Belt, Dallas County, and Selma Alabama. Selma boasts the state's largest contiguous historic district, with more than 1,250 structures identified as contributing. Selma Interpretive Centre marks the beginning of the National Historic … The new leadership in Selma did little and even stole money from the campaign. The Confederates replied with heavy small arms and artillery fire. Insurgents tried to keep white supremacy over the freedmen, and most whites resented former slaves being granted the right to vote. The clashes didn’t discourage King: he organised two other marches shortly after. Push for Voting Rights Sparked Selma Protests. It was also an important armaments-manufacturing and iron shipbuilding center for the Confederacy during the Civil War, surrounded by miles of earthen fortifications. The city was planned and named as Selma by William R. King, a politician and planter from North Carolina who was a future vice president of the United States. In February 1892, Willy Webb was put in the jail in Selma after police arrested him in Waynesville. Selma City Schools operates the city's public schools. The events at Selma helped increase public support for the cause; later that year the U.S. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a bill introduced, supported and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Social studies educator, Hofstra University, my opinions, of course, are my own, Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter. Selma, Alabama. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.10. Overall, the district is ranked number 85 out of 100 school districts in the state. The racial makeup of the city was 80.3% Black or African American, 18.0% White, 0.20% Native American, 0.60% Asian, 0.1% other races, 0.80% from two or more races and Hispanics or Latinos, of any race, comprised 0.60% of the population. Area attractions include the Old Town Historic District, Old Live Oak Cemetery, Paul M. Grist State Park, and Old Cahawba Archaeological Park. It was covered by national press and television news, reaching many American and international homes.[15]. Highway 80, which runs east and west through Selma and the state has reflected this in naming patterns. Earthen forts were built to cover the grounds with artillery fire. ", remains the crucial one for people who believe in social justice. We also know that during the 1964 Democratic Party National Convention in Atlantic City he actively pressured key delegates and his lieutenants to push aside Black demands for greater representation at the convention. This injunction temporarily halted civil-rights activity until Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. defied it by speaking to a crowd about the struggle at Brown Chapel AME Church on January 2, 1965. French explorers and colonists were the first Europeans to explore this area. From the West Alabama News Network– Preparations for the Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee are underway in Selma. Especially in the post-World War II period, legal challenges by the NAACP against Southern discriminatory laws enabled blacks to more freely exercise their constitutional rights as citizens. We have reviews of the best places to see in Selma. It is also not just a discussion of history. After they passed over the crest of the Edmund Pettus Bridge and left the boundaries of the city, they were confronted by county sheriff's deputies and state troopers, who attacked them using tear gas, horses and billy clubs, and drove them back across the bridge. The Europeans encountered the historic Native American people known as the Muscogee (also known as the Creek), who had been in the area for hundreds of years. Industries in Selma include International Paper, Bush Hog (agricultural equipment), Plantation Patterns, American Apparel, and Peerless Pump Company (LaBour), Renasol, and Hyundai. A group of at least nine people took part in the protest as Bloomberg spoke during a 55th commemoration of "Bloody Sunday" -- a historic civil rights march in … Selma Interpretive Centre. Later Anglo-Americans called it the Moore's Bluff settlement. At 5 pm, however, Gen. Eli Long's ammunition train in the rear was attacked by advance elements of Forrest's scattered forces approaching Selma. As of the 2010 census, there were 20,756 people living in the city. Selma, AL Directions {{::location.tagLine.value.text}} Sponsored Topics. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr. , the march was the culminating event of several tumultuous weeks during which demonstrators twice attempted to march but were stopped, once violently, by local police. On "Bloody Sunday" in 1965, Lewis was beaten by Alabama state troopers. Early the next morning, Forrest reached Selma; he advised Gen. Richard Taylor, departmental commander, to leave the city. Today is National Voter Registration Day! Obama credits Selma march for his existence. Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was unarmed, was killed in a café in nearby Marion after state police broke up a peaceful protest in the town. Hudson Middle School and the School of Discovery. They were 8 feet (2.4 m) to 12 feet (3.7 m) high, 15 feet (4.6 m) thick at the base, with a ditch 4 feet (1.2 m) wide and 5 feet (1.5 m) deep along the front. Now, you can experience the legacy of those who changed history through the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Before the march, civil rights groups had been … 29 … The Southern artillery had only solid shot on hand, while a short distance away was an arsenal which produced tons of canister, a highly effective anti-personnel ammunition. Been fortified by three miles of earthen fortifications as a potty mouth openly... Whom he shot and killed with his revolver problem facing Selma according to a report issued Auburn. The long-serving state senator Walter C. 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