In response to the continuing denial of the right to vote and the shooting death of local protestor Jimmy Lee Jackson in February, 1965, citizens from Dallas County, Alabama and SNCC and SCLC activists scheduled a protest march from Selma to Montgomery for March 7th. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, as protesters crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met with resistance and blocked by Alabama State troopers and local police. The protesters were ordered to turn around; when they refused, they were met with teargas and beaten savagely and violently. Because of the televised brutality, the day was referred to as “Bloody Sunday.” Although President Lyndon Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 just months before, the ultimate march from Selma to Montgomery on March 21st was instrumental in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The 50th Commemoration of the march in Selma Alabama provided the impetus to host an evening with Judge Carlton Reeves on Tuesday, April 7th, from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO. During this evening, Judge Carlton Reeves will engage the community in a dialogue regarding the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and his recent sentencing of the defendants responsible for the death of James Anderson in 2011. In conjunction with Judge Reeves' comments, there will also be a panel of students to discuss the College of Liberal Arts sojourn to Birmingham in 2013 through this year's travel to Selma, Alabama.
