Selma: Voting Rights
The Fight for Voting Rights in 1965
See, [Selma] was the point at which the political was forced to affirm the moral and spiritual. C.T. Vivian
In March 1965, thousands of Americans marched from Selma to Montgomery to secure voting rights for African Americans in Alabama. Civil Rights advocates believed that this march was necessary to publicize the impediments to voting which existed in many southern states.
On what basis do people disagree about the meaning of voting in a democracy?
What happened in the march from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965?
Did the march redefine who we are as Americans?
In this exercise, you will read one of three speeches and watch two video clips which each define democracy in the United States in 1965. Then, using a Harkness Discussion, you will address the questions about the competing definitions of democracy.
Document #1 George Wallace’s Inaugural Address, January 1963.
Document #2 Lyndon Johnson’s “We Shall Overcome” speech, March 15, 1965.
Document #3 Martin Luther King’s “Our God is Marching On,” March 25, 1965.
Document #4 Oral histories from Selma http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/133semo/133facts2.htm
Document #5 Amelia Boynton Robinson: “Marching in Selma,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCMIXPOOJxk
Document #5 Civil Rights March The Today Show, March 26, 2000,
http://www.hulu.com/watch/53345/the-legacy-of-mlk-civil-rights-march-in-selma – video
As you read,
• take notes on the words used to define democracy and voting.
• How do they define democracy?
• Who should be part of a democratic society?
• Copy two quotes that are the key understanding your document. Explain.
• List 3 questions you have about the document.
• How did/does democracy work?
For further information on the Selma to Montgomery March see:
• National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/archive/semo/freedom/People/index.html
• Lyndon B. Johnson site: http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/lbjforkids/selma-mont.shtm
• Alabama Moments in American History: http://www.alabamamoments.alabama.gov/sec59det.html
• Spider Martin, photographer: Selma to Montgomery: A March for the Right to Vote, A Visual History by Spider Martin, found at http://www.spidermartin.com/history.html
• Photos of ordinary people on the march: http://www.archives.state.al.us/cvl/cvl_rit1.html
• Ameilia Boynton Robinson – middle class African American educator; organizer of march http://www.visionaryproject.com/robinsonameliaboynton/#2
• National Park Service “The Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March: Shaking the Conscience of the Nation,” http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/133semo/133selma.htm
