“Bloody Sunday” History, Legacy and Continuing Need — Professor Irving L. Joyner

“Bloody Sunday” History, Legacy and Continuing Need

BY PROFESSOR IRVING L. JOYNER

On March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama, future congressman John Lewis led over 650 peaceful marchers from the Brown Chapel AME Church to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which was to be the first leg of a widely publicized march to Montgomery, the state capitol. The march and an accompanying rally were to focus on the systematic and historic denial of the right to vote by African Americans and to demand the passage of federal legislation to give legal protections to African Americans who sought to register to vote. The Edmund Pettus Bridge was six blocks away from the church and had to be crossed in order for marchers to leave Selma. The march and rally were organized by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, (SNCC) the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and local community organizers.

As they marched in pairs along the sidewalk and crossed the bridge, they were confronted by a corridor of over 50 armed Alabama State troopers and White vigilantes, many of whom rode horses, dressed in riot gear and armed with batons and clubs. When marchers neared the end of the bridge, they were informed that they would not be allowed to cross; soon after this announcement, the troopers and vigilantes charged into the marchers on foot and horseback, unleashed canisters of tear gas and conducted a vicious and brutal baton wielding attack on the defenseless and trapped marchers. This unlawful and unprovoked law enforcement instigated attack became known as “Bloody Sunday.” The vicious attack, which was recorded by television cameras and radio, resulted in the hospitalization of 17 marchers, including John Lewis (who was at the front of the line) and serious injury to more than 100 other women, men and children.

News footage which documented this attack was immediately disseminated around the United States and immediate outrage was voiced by civil rights leaders, activists, political leaders, celebrities and many others. This outrage quickly resulted in the planning of a follow-up march which was conducted two days later and was led by Dr. Martin Luther King. On March 9, over 2500 marchers followed the same route that was taken on Sunday from Brown Chapel to the Edmund Pettus Bridge and, when they reached the midpoint, they were also met by a larger and reinforced grouping of Alabama State Troopers and another contingent of White vigilantes who were there to provide assistance. When confronted by this armed group in what is referred to as “Turnaround Tuesday,” King and the march leadership quickly kneeled, prayed and decided to retreat and returned to Brown Chapel. That night, Rev. James Reeb, a White marcher from Boston, was beaten to death by a group of Whites in Selma.

After returning to the church, a decision was made to file a legal action in federal court in order to obtain an injunction and restraining order that would allow the marchers to resume and complete their march. As result, a restraining order was issued and, on March 21, over 5000 marchers, led by King and Lewis and guarded by a contingent of 1900, deployed National Guard troops which was activated by President Lyndon Johnson, again crossed the famed bridge. Marchers succeeded in completing the historic 54-mile-long, Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March and Rally on March 25th. By the time marchers arrived in Montgomery, the size of the group had grown to over 25,000.

The televised broadcasts of the Bloody Sunday attack was regularly repeated on the national news and directly paved that way for the quick enactment of the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law by President Johnson on August 6, 1965. That legislation was designed to give declaratory voice to the mandated voting rights provisions contained in every State’s Constitution and to extend the guarantees of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution.

IMPACT OF VOTING RIGHTS ACT

Since 1965, the Voting Rights Act has been determined to be the most far-reaching and effective in civil and political rights history. The Act boldly declared that it was illegal to discriminate against African Americans, people of color and language speakers in their efforts to register and vote. Section 2 of the Act prohibited the denial and dilution of the right to vote and gave citizens the right to sue to remedy any voting related violation. Section 5 of the Act gave supervisory authority to the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure that any change in any voting related requirement which negatively impacted the exercise of voting rights and that occurred in “covered jurisdictions” be pre-cleared before taking effect. The Voting Rights Act also banned literacy tests and the imposition of poll taxes.

“Covered jurisdictions” were identified as those States and areas which had historically demonstrated efforts to deny or dilute the right of African Americans, racial minorities or language minorities from exercising the right to vote.

Based on the existence of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, African Americans and other racial minorities slowly joined efforts to register and to vote. These battles to insure the right to vote occurred in local communities and provided citizens, who were previously excluded by law, social convention and physical terror from voting, an avenue to legally challenge voter suppression and dilution in Department of Justice administrative proceedings and by filing claims in state and federal courts. Section 5 of the Act was singularly responsible for preventing hundreds of thousands legislative efforts by states and local governments to impose barrier to voting by African Americans, people of color and language minorities. As a result, more and more members of these excluded populations reached the conclusion that they could finally vote and were encouraged that they finally could find people on the ballots for whom they chose to vote. The power of this vote reached its high point in the 2008, 2012 and 2020 presidential campaigns when the percentage of racial minorities who voted matched or exceeded the percentage of Whites who voted in those campaigns. As a result of the voting rights impact, the number and quality of racial minorities elected at the local, state and federal levels have increased dramatically.

In a stinging set-back to the Voting Rights Act, the United Supreme Court decided in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder in 2013 that Section 4 of the Act no longer provided an acceptable justification to identify and correctly describe “covered jurisdictions” and, therefore, the Section 5 preclearance authorization now violated the rights of the states to control their election processes and procedures. The loss of Section 5 authorization required a change in voting rights challenges and litigation strategies to combat these violations and emboldened efforts by the States to vigorously create obstacles to voting by racial minorities.

CONTINUING NEED FOR VOTING ACTIVISM

The legislative battle to replace Section 5 and to resist vote suppression at the local, State and national levels continues today. Reflecting back on the struggles which the Bloody Sunday history and legacy motivated gives hope that these battle will produce victories like those which occurred in past years. This is not the time to ease up or to be distracted. As states now wrestle with mandatory legislative redistricting, which occurs every ten years, community groups and organizations are gearing up to fight back against these and other expected voter suppression efforts. Already, States have proposed legislation designed to achieve that purpose, e.g. gerrymandering of state and federal legislative districts, photo voter ID, curtailing of the ability to vote by mail or cutting back on or eliminating early voting and out of precinct voting. In addition to these challenges, there are two major Arizona cases that are presently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court which give the ultra-conservative justices opportunities to gut the remaining portions of the Voting Rights Act. As such, real challenges exist.

In response to these efforts, there are encouraging political signs and activism which demonstrate that community groups are rising up to challenge these efforts around the country. These activities resulted in robust political participation by racial minorities in States around the country during the 2020 state and national elections and suggest that people in these communities are fired up to protect their right to participate in the political life of this country. One hopes and prays that this present level of challenge, enthusiasm and passion will continue. Bloody Sunday can’t be seen as just another historic occasion which we commemorate, but must be viewed as continuing inspiration for those of us who remain to continue the struggle which was exemplified by those brave people in Selma who endured the viciousness and terror of the Alabama State Troopers on March 7, 1965.

THE 50TH YEAR COMMEMORATION BRIDGE CROSSING MARCH (2015) IN WHICH PROFESSOR JOYNER PARTICIPATED. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS, THEN-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HILLARY CLINTON AND PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ALSO PARTICIPATED IN THAT MARCH. OVER 40,000 PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN THAT EVENT.

THE BRIDGE CROSSING MARCH IS HELD EACH YEAR TO RETRACE THE ROUTE TAKEN BY MARCHERS ON “BLOODY SUNDAY” AND IS DESIGNED TO CELEBRATE THE COURAGE OF THOSE WHO WERE ATTACKED AND BLOODIED IN 1965.