Selma - The Bridge to the Ballot (2015)

Summary

The documentary "Selma - The Bridge to the Ballot" delves into the pivotal events leading to the landmark Selma to Montgomery march in 1965, a cornerstone in the fight for African American voting rights. It explores the profound impact of the Birmingham church bombing that killed four young girls, which catalyzed widespread protest and activism. Central figures in the movement, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and student activists, navigated immense challenges, including brutal opposition from local authorities like Sheriff Jim Clark. Despite intimidation and arrests, their unwavering determination caught national attention, culminating in President Lyndon B. Johnson endorsing the Voting Rights Act. This victory marked a significant triumph for civil rights, forever altering U.S. history.

Highlights

• Powerful opening recounting the tragic church bombing that shook the nation. 🙏
• Inspiring stories of student activism and bravery in the face of brutality. 💪
• Dramatic depictions of the Selma to Montgomery march, a turning point in the civil rights movement. 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️
• Emotional build-up to President Johnson's historic speech and legislation signing. 🖋️
• The somber yet triumphant conclusion highlighting the lasting impact of the Voting Rights Act. 🏆

Key Takeaways

• The horrific church bombing in Birmingham served as a catalyst for change, motivating activists to demand justice and equality. 🏛️
• Student leaders played a crucial role, despite fear and intimidation, in advancing the fight for voting rights. ✊
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership and calls for action were pivotal in rallying support and national attention. 📢
• The fierce opposition from local authorities highlighted the systemic racism prevalent in the South. 🚫
• The eventual passing of the Voting Rights Act was a monumental achievement, showing how grassroots activism can compel systemic change. 📜

Overview

The documentary opens on a somber note with the heart-wrenching bombing of a Birmingham church, igniting a fire for change within the civil rights movement. This tragedy became the catalyst that propelled activists, from students to seasoned leaders, into action. The determination to transform Alabama and other Southern states was fueled by this tragic loss, highlighting the ugly realities of racial violence that plagued the region.

Audiences are introduced to the inspiring figures of the movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose leadership became synonymous with hope and resilience. Student activists from Selma, undeterred by fear and threats, stood at the forefront of this struggle, organizing sit-ins and nonviolent protests. Their courage demonstrated the power of youth and community in demanding systemic change and capturing national attention.

The documentary crescendos with the dramatic narrative of the Selma to Montgomery march. As footage of the march and President Johnson’s subsequent powerful endorsement of voting rights rolls, viewers are swept into the emotional tidal wave that was the civil rights movement. The triumphant passage of the Voting Rights Act is not just a victory for those who marched, but a monumental step forward in American history, embodying the unyielding spirit of those who dared to stand up for equality.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction The introduction often serves to lay the groundwork for what's to come in the book, setting up the key themes, objectives, and sometimes giving a glimpse of the story or concepts that will be explored. It may also introduce the author's perspective or unique angle on the subject matter, along with captivating the audience’s interest to delve deeper into the content. This particular chapter begins with music, which could suggest that the book is aiming for an engaging and possibly entertaining tone right from the start.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Bombing of Birmingham Church On Sunday, September 15th, 1963, a bomb exploded in a church in Birmingham, Alabama, resulting in the tragic death of four young girls.
• 01:30 - 10:00: Selma's Early Civil Rights Activism The chapter discusses the harrowing and violent response to civil rights activism in Selma, particularly focusing on the shocking incident where children were targeted with a bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan. Earlier in the year, young protesters made national headlines by courageously confronting extreme adversities such as fire hoses, police dogs, and arrests as they marched for justice from their church.
• 10:00 - 16:00: Challenges of Voter Registration The chapter discusses the intense challenges faced in voter registration, with a focus on the pervasive segregation and threats from groups like the Ku Klux Klan. It captures the fear and anger amongst activists, especially after tragic events such as the death of four young girls, and highlights the impactful efforts by activists to honor the deceased and initiate change.
• 16:00 - 23:00: Dr. King's Involvement and Mass Protests Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is encouraged to initiate a voting rights campaign in Alabama. Meanwhile, high school students in Selma are already actively taking a stand.
• 23:00 - 27:00: Bloody Sunday The chapter titled 'Bloody Sunday' captures the emotions and scenes of a significant protest march. Participants are depicted as continuously walking and talking, embodying a relentless and determined spirit. The atmosphere is charged with music, applause, and the rhythmic chant to 'keep on walking, keep on talking'. This setting highlights the resilience and unity of those involved, marching together despite the difficulties they face. The chapter likely draws upon historical events to convey its message of solidarity and perseverance.
• 27:00 - 36:00: National Response and Further Marches The chapter titled 'National Response and Further Marches' begins with an introduction from Charles Bonnet, a 17-year-old student leader from the still non-violent coin community. He recounts the events of September 16, 1963, when demonstrations occurred involving student activists.
• 36:00 - 41:00: March to Montgomery and Victory The chapter 'March to Montgomery and Victory' describes a significant event involving racial discrimination at a whites-only lunch counter in a drug store. A group of students, determined to fight for their rights, faced hostility and violence. One of the young women involved was forcibly removed, and another individual suffered a head injury requiring seven stitches, highlighting the brutality faced during this era of the civil rights movement.
• 41:00 - 49:00: Passing of the Voting Rights Act Nine months prior, activists Barnard and Kaleo Lafayette, with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), arrived in Selma to initiate a grassroots voter registration project. They faced significant challenges as reports indicated hostility from the white population and fear within the black community. Despite the difficulties, the Lafayettes were welcomed by SNCC members.
• 49:00 - 60:00: Reflection and Ongoing Struggle In the chapter titled 'Reflection and Ongoing Struggle', the focus is on the Dallas County Voters League, a local organization advocating for voting rights. Teacher Margaret Lore offers her home to Bernard and Kolya, while educator Amelia Boynton provides Bernard with office space. However, many within the black community do not support Bernard, considering him an outsider. Lafayette seeks solace at the Selma zoo amidst these challenges.
• 60:00 - 76:00: Closing Music and Credits The chapter 'Closing Music and Credits' revolves around the themes of leadership and youth empowerment. Susie inquires if the speaker is ready to proceed with a project, which involves developing student leadership. The speaker focuses on providing advice and support to the students, as the students take the lead in the initiative. There is a contrast between the carefree nature of the students, who have no jobs, and the adults who are concerned about employment and intimidation. Charles Bonner and some of his classmates step up, and curiosity among them leads one friend to ask about the requirements needed.

Selma - The Bridge to the Ballot (2015) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music]
• 00:30 - 01:00 Sunday September 15th 1963 a bomb explodes in a church in Birmingham Alabama four little girls were killed we
• 01:00 - 01:30 couldn't believe they would kill children get him ready for Sunday school I guess it shouldn't have been a shock the bomb was planted by the Ku Klux Klan [Music] earlier that year young protesters marching from the church had attracted the attention of the nation by braving fire hoses police dogs and Jail to break
• 01:30 - 02:00 the stranglehold of segregation in the city now four are dead the Ku Klux Klan could do anything they want to and to know that could happen to you I was kind of scared and I think I was kind of anger to activists who helped organize the young protesters are devastated to honor the four girls and transform
• 02:00 - 02:30 Alabama they've urged dr. Martin Luther King jr. to start a voting rights campaign in the state 90 miles away in Selma high school students are already taking a stand angle the body [Music]
• 02:30 - 03:00 nobody keep walking keep on talking walking on a breeder [Music] Oh [Applause] keep on walking keep on talking
• 03:00 - 03:30 [Applause] [Music] my name is Charles bonnet I'm 17 years old I was student leader for the still non violent coin in community on September 16 1963 we had demonstrations here in some student activist target a
• 03:30 - 04:00 local drug store inside a whites only lunch counter and that was for students that gone there akhadas junco and AG service and the owner I come to leave one of the young lady was drunk woofer like the cow proud about a County Sheriff I was struck on the head buddy Horner had seven stitches of flowers my hair
• 04:00 - 04:30 nine months earlier Barnard and Kaleo Lafayette young activist with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee snick for short had arrived in Selma to start a grassroots voter registration project it wouldn't be easy two groups of snick workers just returned from Scout in the city they reported the white folks are too mean and the black folks are too afraid the Lafayette's are embraced by members
• 04:30 - 05:00 of the dallas county voters League a local organization pushing for voting rights teacher Margaret lore opens her home to Bernard and Kolya educator Amelia Boynton provides Bernard office space most in the black community are not as welcoming they didn't support him at all he was like an outsider Lafayette turns to Selma zoo
• 05:00 - 05:30 they were Susie asked ready to go and what I was basically doing was developing student leaves they took the leadership I was just giving them advice and giving them support if this is gonna take place that you can sell mahat dude adults worried about their jobs and intimidation and we as kids we had no jobs to worry about Charles Bonner and a few classmates are the first to sign up one of my friends asks what do we need
• 05:30 - 06:00 to do but I said we just need you to go to Hudson high until your classmates we like to meet with damage it's have an ankle back to church basement he began to ask us questions like well why can't your parents vote why can't you drink out of the wife fountain I was about 14 and that was my first contact with anybody who was espousing civil rights I want to change my father would go into a store this big handsome hard-working
• 06:00 - 06:30 strong black man and I hear him be called a boy and a [ __ ] I was hearing this from the time I was 6 7 years old you know this hurt me a lot but not explained that voter registration was going to be the key to gain in power to make the changes the voting age 21 so we couldn't register to vote obviously our parted voter registration was to go door-to-door canvassing and trying to get people to go down to register 100
• 06:30 - 07:00 years after the Civil War most black people in the south are blocked from voting by a powerful combination of unfair laws and rules enforced by violence and intimidation there were all kinds of things to keep people from voting if they went down to the courthouse and they had a job somewhere the man just reported to the Boston they got fine I asked my mother had she ever voted and she told me don't you never
• 07:00 - 07:30 say that out in your street you don't say nothing like that because you'll get in trouble in the early 60s 15,000 black adults live in Selma the largest city in Dallas County only 130 are registered to vote none are registered in nearby Wilcox and Lowndes counties I thought our adults were really cowards I didn't understand until the brutality started to take place that they had a fear of losing not
• 07:30 - 08:00 only their jobs but their lives Jim Clark is a sheriff of Dallas County I'm the segregation innocent I say this if my ancestors had not been segregationist I might be a BM Aladdin I'm proud to be a white man Clark demands not only his Dallas County officers but also a posse of white citizens he's deputized he represented that whole group of people that felt that they needed to keep black people in
• 08:00 - 08:30 their place [Music] the same day as the carters drugstore protests students staged sit-ins and other segregated establishments many cut schools to participate in marches and protests teachers often look the other way mr. Anderson was the music teacher I loved so much well we got to his classroom he just walked to his window and turned his back and he stated in his
• 08:30 - 09:00 classic anyone is left in this classroom when I turn around I want you to know you're gonna flunk students help spread word of a mass registration event at the County Courthouse student representative of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee here in Selma Alabama on the date of October 7 1963 we had Freedom Day and the state troopers told us to clear the area immediately
• 09:00 - 09:30 Chico fell to the ground and I fell over so they start hitting us with the bility in the span of three weeks 250 young people are arrested I don't know what I was arrested for I was marching I was protesting well the first night I spent in jail well that was to put the fear in us but we can
• 09:30 - 10:00 imagine how jail was weekly mass meetings help energize the students everybody would be there the church would always be packed it hit us that we had a voice you knew we had a voice [Applause]
• 10:00 - 10:30 and the music was the thing that really got the people revved up never mass me and they said we need a choir we're not looking for the quality of a voice you know it was singing ourselves out of fear but intimidation and arrests eventually take their toll on the protesters the signing of a new federal
• 10:30 - 11:00 law on July 2nd 1964 that prohibits segregation in public places however gives them hope [Music] everything that's segregated you're gonna integrate we're gonna go to bunch counters we're gonna go to Carter's again we're gonna go to libraries we're gonna go to where only by kids could go in we're gonna go and drink out the white balance when Johnson signed in love we went to the will bethere we paid our money and
• 11:00 - 11:30 win him it was extremely frightening because there we are in a sea of white people in the dark place that we've never been allowed to go before we got in and started looking at the movie then all of a sudden the lights came on and some white man came in and said where are the [ __ ] an angry mob runs the black students out of the theatre while
• 11:30 - 12:00 students test the new law adults converge on the courthouse and five days ninety tried to register only six succeed more than seventy protesters students and adults are arrested we didn't stay in jail that long we be out the next day ready to march again to stop the protests a local judge issues an order that prohibits three or more people associated with civil rights groups from even meeting
• 12:00 - 12:30 public protests grind to a halt [Music] but members of the Dallas County voters lead led by Frederick Reese a science teacher at Hudson High meets secretly to devise the plan we felt the movement in Dallas County was going to stall we decided that we're going to invite dr. King to come to Selma the church is pet he came from the
• 12:30 - 13:00 back of the church everybody stood up and started singing mobilize campaign [Applause] two weeks earlier King had urged
• 13:00 - 13:30 President Lyndon Johnson to send a voting rights bill to Congress Johnson though supportive says the time is not right but King is determined to push the President to act once more we will dramatize this whole situation and seek to arouse of conscience of the federal government by marching by the thousands on places of registration all over this
• 13:30 - 14:00 if it is necessary we are willing and must be willing to go to jail by the thousands in Alabama when dr. King spoke and said it was time to move me and some of my classmates and some of my young friends were saying you know all right we were ready [Music] students spread the word of a new Mass registration event
• 14:00 - 14:30 400 answer the call sheriff Clark orders protesters to an alley no one is allowed inside the courthouse undetermined protesters returned the next day this time they refused Sheriff Clark's order to move to the alley 67 are arrested including movement
• 14:30 - 15:00 leader Amelia Boynton [Music] it is a tragedy when a man becomes so depraved that so sick that he will grab a woman and push and shove as if he were dealing with some way with dogs soon after mrs. Boynton is arrested Frederick Reese calls his colleagues together
• 15:00 - 15:30 I ask them how can you teach citizenship tell them boys and girls to be good citizens and you're not registered and you're not making any attempt to register we were their teachers and our students were out there sacrificing so we thought that we should be out there too 105 teachers gathered and marched to the courthouse we got ourselves prepared to go to jail we got our toothbrushes
• 15:30 - 16:00 toothpaste and stuff like that because we just knew they were gonna arrest us [Music] something on after he pushed us down he
• 16:00 - 16:30 said the next time he was going to arrest all of us at that time the superintendent called him inside apparently he told Clark if you arrest those teachers what are you gonna do without his students the teachers regroup
• 16:30 - 17:00 [Music] though we didn't get into the courthouse we made our point sheriff Clark once again made a blunder and it will be seen around the world on the evening news I was across the street while they were
• 17:00 - 17:30 in line and we as students for watching them and proud very proud they made a stand that day the teachers inspire others in Selma the beautician started marching Undertaker started marching but it came at a price the police became more brutal and people are constantly being arrested but the adults and students can become a remove unit cell [Music]
• 17:30 - 18:00 protests happen almost daily 450 students and 264 adults are arrested for parading without a permit one of them is dr. King Selma's mayor points a finger at the protesters our city and our County has been subjected to the greatest pressures I think in a community in the country has had to withstand we've had in our area here our
• 18:00 - 18:30 outside agitation groups of all levels we've had Martin Luther [ __ ] of King hardness of monkey Martin Luther King they have continually harassed and agitated us for approximately three or four weeks by February 5th more than 2,000 people including many students have in jail you know a Brown Chapel Church they'd have a bus of it at weight we knew that we're gonna be automatically arrested but we knew that
• 18:30 - 19:00 the key was to keep filling up the jail the New York Times publishes a letter dr. King writes from his jail cell this is Selma Alabama he says there are more Negroes in jail with me than there are on the voting rolls freedom fighting for freedom [Music]
• 19:00 - 19:30 [Music] we shall a crowd of 160 most of them students assembles at the courthouse instead of busing them to jail sheriff Clark and his posse forced the students to march out of town they had a son lines running they were making us go the
• 19:30 - 20:00 only thing that was missing from us that day with his slave chains I along with the others with their oh no we couldn't breathe two days later it is sheriff Clark who was hospitalized with exhaustion the [ __ ] are giving me a heart attack he says so we went to the courthouse got on my knees and prayed to God that he heals Jim Clark and he got will quick and came
• 20:00 - 20:30 back same old Jim Clark big belly the gun and the billy club [Music] you can't keep anyone the United States for boating without hurting the rights of other citizens democracy's built on this this is why every man has the right to vote regardless and this power we're not there binding me with that life by
• 20:30 - 21:00 the middle of February nearly thirty four hundred demonstrators students and adults have been arrested in Selma since the start of the year there was never a time and we were
• 21:00 - 21:30 without fear there was never a time and we didn't think that we may get seriously hurt and may get killed [Music] in nearby Marion Alabama about 450 people meet at Science Chapel Methodist Church to protest the arrest of James orange a student organizer one of them is Jimmie Lee Jackson a 26 year old church deacon who has tried to register
• 21:30 - 22:00 to vote five times he was very peaceful and quiet he would bring his grandfather to church every Sunday local police and state troopers are out in force as protesters leave the church they're attacked state troopers shouting and jabbing and swinging their nightsticks the Negroes began screaming and falling back around the entrance to the church the new york times jackson and members
• 22:00 - 22:30 of his family flee into max cafe followed by true person jackson is shot twice in the stomach while defending his mother he's transported to a local hospital walter Dobin is there when jackson arrives he was crying out in pain and flying up the hill and the nurses at the nurse's station there was a couple of net were real vocal but they were saying I will
• 22:30 - 23:00 not touch that [ __ ] he will lay up there and die after several hours Jackson has taken to Good Samaritan Hospital 30 miles away and Selma 8 days later he passes [Music]
• 23:00 - 23:30 [Music] when we heard it happened the question was now what position are we going to take because his a person who represented our cause now he's been shot and killed [Music] ADEs pressed dr. King to call for a symbolic march from Selma to Montgomery
• 23:30 - 24:00 james Bevel asked me with child what do you think about a march to Montgomery Here I am just turned 17 he's asking me what I think and I told him I thought it was a good idea alabama Governor George Wallace thinks otherwise two years earlier Wallace had tried to block the integration of the University of Alabama now he's determined to stop the March the government must proceed in
• 24:00 - 24:30 an orderly manner and lawful and law-abiding citizens must transact their business with the government in such a manner there will be no March between Selma Alabama Montgomery [Music] but in defiance of the governor protesters meet at Brown Chapel with dr. King in Atlanta the March is led by Hosea Williams and
• 24:30 - 25:00 25-year old John Lewis the Negro citizen of Dallas County and other Alabama Plaistow counties are marching today from Selma to Montgomery you're marching to our state capitol to dramatize to our nation and to the world our determination to win first class citizenship the marchers students among them head toward the bridge leading to Montgomery I remember marching in silence for the first two to three
• 25:00 - 25:30 blocks because something didn't feel right I was sixth in line behind John Lewis I was in the 19th row from the front 8-year old Cheyenne Webb is in the middle of a line with the teacher I was with mrs. Margaret Moore the closer we got to the Edmund Pettus Bridge my heart began to be fast because I was becoming scared I started holding her hand tighter [Music] we crested the bridge and we knew
• 25:30 - 26:00 something's gonna go down cuz all we could see was that Alabama blue some Highway Patrol with damn helmets on and some of them had gas masks on he had men on horses they had billy clubs and bullwhip so you know there was gonna be vicious I saw Daniel these folks finna kill us
• 26:00 - 26:30 [Music] [Applause] they came in from both sides and beating people it was horrible I heard John's head crack I remember the sound of that when one of the state
• 26:30 - 27:00 troopers hit him across the head two gases start popping like bombs it burns your skin and it makes your eyes water and it makes you almost implode inside [Music] you can't breathe it's really bad you think you're gonna die mrs. Boynton was knocked down and knocked unconscious and on the ground I remember being called [ __ ] twice
• 27:00 - 27:30 I remember being hit twice I remember biting this hand that was on me that's when I was able to start running I didn't know where to go then I saw a horse the last thing I remember is the sound of me hitting the pavement protestors rushed back to Brown Chapel Clark's Posse in pursuit there
• 27:30 - 28:00 were people all over the place and then there's the police on horseback riding with billy clubs and you could hear the lips like they were playing polo he went into the church John Lewis his head was split open he tried to talk and he collapsed they had to rush him out to the hospital close to 100 marchers are wounded
• 28:00 - 28:30 [Music] that evening news of what is quickly dubbed Bloody Sunday is broadcast in two homes across the country I was the minister of Berkeley Unitarian fellowship I along with millions of other Americans saw the televised news of what happened on Bloody Sunday I was horrified by the brutality of the police of the state troopers and the sheriff's deputies from Atlanta dr. King announced
• 28:30 - 29:00 his plans for another March in two days I happened to be driving in my car and I heard on the noontime news that Martin Luther King had called for clergy to come to Selma thousands answer dr. King's call we had so many folks coming assembly I mean like every bus in America was in Selma you know the funny
• 29:00 - 29:30 thing is I didn't know any good white people and when white people started coming in and said they like me I can't wait for them to show their true colors you know I'm saying they start to act like the white people that I knew but it never happened I mean these were white people that were just like we were no different than we were they call my dad on Mistah the day after the attack on the bridge the marchers file a federal lawsuit they asked the court to rule
• 29:30 - 30:00 immediately that they have a constitutional right to march from Selma to Montgomery to protest the denial of their right to vote in a real sense we are moving and we cannot afford to stop because Alabama and because our nation has a date with destiny but Federal Judge Frank Johnson issues an order prohibiting the March pending a court hearing in three days nevertheless
• 30:00 - 30:30 dr. king leads marchers back to the bridge we march to the bridge to about the same spot and the state troopers were there game [Music] dr. King calls for a prayer and turns a
• 30:30 - 31:00 march around back into Selma this doesn't mean that I disrespect the federal court nor does it mean that I disrespected Johnson that evening Clark Olsen joins fellow ministers Orloff Miller and James Reeb for dinner
• 31:00 - 31:30 at Walker's Cafe a well-known black Dyer as they leave three white men approached they came at us one of them yelled hey you [ __ ] of course all three of us were white one of the men swung a club and hit Jim on the left side of his head as he was walking Jim immediately fell to the ground Jim was lying there in great pain and I held his hand and he
• 31:30 - 32:00 squeezed my hand tighter and tighter until he went unconscious Reeb is transported to a Birmingham hospital where he dies with tensions high Selma public safety director Wilson Baker tries to barricade protesters in the neighborhood near Brown Chapel [Music]
• 32:00 - 32:30 and he made a decision that if y'all March downtown y'all gonna die and that's when they set up what we called Berlin Wall he put out these wooden horses across Sylvan Street right near Brown Chapel and left policemen there day and night to basically keep us
• 32:30 - 33:00 contained behind the horses I love the Berlin Wall because we had the police essentially where we wanted them and we had fun just outmaneuver in them in Montgomery judge Johnson begins hearing testimony in the federal lawsuit when the judge sees the film of the attack on the bridge he is visibly moved President Johnson is also moved to act
• 33:00 - 33:30 [Music] at times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom so it was at Lexington and Concord so it was a century ago at Appomattox so it was last week in Selma
• 33:30 - 34:00 Alabama what happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America it is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life
• 34:00 - 34:30 because it's not just Negroes but really it's all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice and we shall overcome [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
• 34:30 - 35:00 Johnson announces that he's sending a voting rights bill to Congress I cried like a baby when I heard him saying we shall overcome [Music] and what he had done he basically took the words of our movie and put him into a speech from the White House we knew that something powerful was coming and was about to happen two days after the President's speech Judge Frank Johnson issues his ruling
• 35:00 - 35:30 [Music] Brown Chapel the site of mass protest is the official launching point for the march to Montgomery many of the students who helped start the Voting Rights Campaign are there we were kids who had
• 35:30 - 36:00 grown up in the cotton fields and it just gone out and started demonstrating we didn't know that we would attract so much attention [Music] as a martyr's pass over the Edmund Pettus Bridge they again encounter troops this time they're there to protect the protesters we realize for the first time we are
• 36:00 - 36:30 being protected by the governor actually being protected by the state instead of being beat up by the state [Music] every step that you take it's like having a sugar rush you know you're just going you're just in the moment we are here we got making a statement marchers
• 36:30 - 37:00 are drenched by a torrential downpour they sleep in the mind but they do not stop I was determined to go to Montgomery and let George Wallace see what he had done to me to let him know that he had created his worst nightmare I was gonna get an education I was gonna be there in their faces at all times I was gonna fight for what was right at all times that's what I wanted him to
• 37:00 - 37:30 know on March 25th 25,000 activists streamed into downtown Montgomery it was completely exhilarating to see the throngs of humanity black white you know everybody all types of religion combined to support us in that movement we were 14 15 16 years old we didn't have a clue we were making history we were just trying to correct Browns
• 37:30 - 38:00 trying to make some wrongs right the day I want to say to the state of Alabama yes sir they I want to say to the people of America and the nations of the world that we are not about to turn around yes we all move now after the beating and killing of our president and young people will not debate us
• 38:00 - 38:30 there were many who experienced beans and some had died you understand but getting to Montgomery was a feeling of great triumph victory and thanks we did this and all I could think about was finally they weren't gonna call my daddy a boy anymore people were joyous and they knew that change was coming
• 38:30 - 39:00 four-and-a-half months after the marchers reach Montgomery President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawing discriminatory voting practices it meant that we were fine we had a right to go into the lunch counters we had a right to vote we had a right to be free like all the white people in Selma
• 39:00 - 39:30 by the end of the year 250,000 new black owners will register in the south we did it we helped get the right to vote still there's so much more to be done [Music]
• 39:30 - 40:00 Oh [Music] [Music]
• 40:00 - 40:30 [Music] [Music] turn you around my heart it's been like sure
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• 41:00 - 41:30 let it shine when the
• 41:30 - 42:00 when the Maya power in my [Music] [Music]
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