The Civil Rights Of African Americans - 2645 Words

The term civil rights is very broad when it is to be defined. It has many different aspects as in to what it can mean, from integration all the way to voting rights of African Americans. My main point is to focus on the Selma Marches from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama, but also to dig deeper into it to find the significance of a certain day, the day was called â€Å"Bloody Sunday.† I want to find out the historical situation behind the marchers who were beat and killed on that day and also look at John Lewis, and the key part that he played into the events that happened on that day and to also look at the reasoning behind the whole march. Racism is defined in many different variations and means different things to certain people;†¦show more content†¦On March 7, 1965, a very famous five day, 54 long mile march of about 600 peaceful protestors took place from Selma, Alabama to the state capital Montgomery, Alabama. This was a very peaceful march that was cause d by the Voting Rights Movement for African Americans in Selma. In Selma, African Americans made up more than half the population, but only a mere two percent were actual registered voters. Discrimination and intimidation tactics aimed at African American kept them from registering and voting. The demonstrators marched to demand fairness in voter registration. With over half the population of Selma being African American there is no reason or excuse besides ignorance for why only two percent had the right to vote. To give sort of a background to leading up to the march, in 1963 a group of community activists formed the Dallas County Improvement Association Dallas County being the actual county that Selma is in. With the goal of having White and Colored signs removed from public buildings, an investigation of police brutality against Africans Americans, and increased access to jobs and voter registration. Local officials ignored the Association s concerns. At the invitation of the Improvement Association, Dr. Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference also known as the (SCLC) chose Selma as a focus for civil rights demonstrations in 1964. The mayor of