Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, 1965

On this day in 1965, more than 600 people walked toward the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, planning to march across to Montgomery on the other side. Before they reached the bridge they were met by local police and state troopers. 


When the 600 civil rights marchers refused to turn back, they were tear-gassed. People were brutally beaten by officers with billy clubs. Fifty people required hospitalization. They didn't make it across. This day has come to called Bloody Sunday. 


Soon, however, a court ruled that they were entitled to federal protection. On March 21, the march from Selma to Montgomery was successfully completed, five months before the Voting Rights Act would pass. 


These brave souls helped change America 47 years ago today.

Peaceful protesters beaten, manhandled.

What a terrible intimidating sight.