Selma to Montgomery marches

The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches held in 1965 along the 54-mile highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. Organized by nonviolent activists, they sought to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote in defiance of segregationist repression. The first march on March 7 ended when state troopers attacked protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, an event known as Bloody Sunday. The third march, which began March 21 under federal protection, reached Montgomery on March 24, and the marches contributed to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.