Bloody Sunday was a cruel incident that occurred on March 7, 1965 in Selma, Alabama. Six hundred orderly protesters were ready to march to Selma on a Sunday to support the Voting Rights Movement. They were led by John Lewis, SNCC, and SCLC activists. All six hundred of them crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, but were blocked by Alabama State Troopers. The police commanded them to turn around, but the protesters refused. The police say ‘they had no choice’ other than to start shooting teargas into the crowd, and beating the non-violent protesters. Sadly, they hospitalized over sixty people. To this day, Lewis still has a visible scar on his forehead from Bloody Sunday.
In 1964, John Lewis was a part of the SNCC. He coordinated SNCC’s Mississippi Freedom Summer, which was a campaign to register black voters across the South. The Mississippi Freedom Summer was run by the local Council of Federated Organizations known as the (COFO). A little over one hundred white college students helped the COFO register black voters. A year later, several hundred white college students were invited the following year (1964) to expand the project. The Mississippi Freedom Summer established fifty freedom schools to carry on the community organizing.
SNCC leader, John Lewis, was beaten severely by state troops during the attempted march from Selma to Montgomery. He was arrested by the police for challenging the injustice of the Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow Laws were the name given to laws permitting segregation in the south. Another time he challenged the Jim Crow Laws was when the National sit-ins arrived to Birmingham. Lewis and the rest of the National sit-ins members were attacked by a mob of people. They were beaten so hard, that there was blood coming out their mouths. Lewis’s suitcase and belongings were made into a bonfire. Some people were even arrested.
A New Way to Protest
Lewis has always believed in peaceful and nonviolent protests. When he was 25 years old, he lead many peaceful and orderly protests. One protest was across Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. He believed the peaceful protest was the most effective way, because the protesters would not be put in jail and he thought it followed Christian doctrine. Even though Lewis was harassed and beaten, he never gave up. He believed protesters should not strike back, laugh out, or leave their seat unless their leader had given them permission to do so. On the other hand, he thought they should always be friendly, always sit up straight and remember the teachings of people like Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi.
Equality At Last
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the bases of race, color, religion, sex and national original. Congress passed this law which ended segregation. The law was created by President John F. Kennedy. The Civil Rights Act led to the creation to the Votings Rights Act which is a law signed by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965 which prohibited things like poll taxes and literacy test which made it impossible for African Americans to vote. The Civil Rights Act gave men the right to vote regardless of their race.