Selma- Martin Luther King
...emotional peak of the American Civil Rights Movement. The issue was right to vote as African Americans were hungry for a voice in their destiny. Blacks in most areas of the deep South were not registered to vote. Even though the United States Constitution gave them the right to vote, threats and violence kept most from registering. After countless years of intimidation, the black community had learned that its only salvation was in unified action. As Martin Luther King stated, “When one negro stood up, he was run of the town; if a thousand stood up together, the situation was bound to be drastically overhauled.” ( King, 272) The most important person to have made a significant change in the rights of blacks was Martin Luther King. He had great courage and passion to conquer segregation, and it was his influence on all blacks to defy white supremacy, and his belief in nonviolence that lead to the success of the Civil Rights Movement, especially the Selma March, which was a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King and the non-violent set out to put a halt to these injustices. They embarked with the protest, with the intention of a change in the voting process and the establishment of democracy.
One hundred years following the Civil War, many African Americans still faced obstacles. In Selma, Alabama, African Americans made up almost half of the population. Out of the 15,000 African Americans eligible to vote in Selma and the surrounding Dallas County, less than 350 were registered. Many feared of losing their jobs, still others could not pass the reading requirements necessary to register. In many places Blacks has to explain difficult sections of the state’s constitution in order for them to vote and White voting official made sure they never passed the tests. African Americans were tired from their treatment of injustice. This build...
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