Selma-Montgomery March (1965)
Photographs taken during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voters rights march.
“At the time I was a photographer on the staff at WSU at Pullman, WA and like so many was appalled at the brutal Alabama state troopers attack on the first attempt, March 7, now called Bloody Sunday. Two days later the marchers were stopped at the same place near the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Turn Around Tuesday. A third attempt was called for giving time for thousands across the nation to congregate at Selma. A campus ad hoc committee asked three of us to fly down to Montgomery and participate in the march that is now marked as a political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement.
“As we were being driven the 54 miles to Selma, a state troopers car started following. When I turned to photograph. Our driver asked that I not do so, not wanting to give any reason to be pulled over. “Those who protect us we fear.” The photographs begin March 20, Saturday afternoon and conclude Wednesday as the marchers arrive at Montgomery.”
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Saturday Afternoon & Evening: Arrival
Entering Selma, drivers fearing being seen transporting demonstrators asked passengers to sit below the windows.
Marchers register at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference office near Brown’s Chapel
The medical staff, composed of forty volunteer physicians, meets for a strategy session.
Rev. Andrew Young, Assistant Executive Director of the S.C.L.C. Meets the press. "We are at war. We are attempting to revolutionize politics in the South... Tying up the highway for four days is a small price to ask for the death of two people."
Saturday evening at Brown Chapel
Sunday Morning: Preparation
Sunday Morning: Gathering and Speeches
Gathering at Brown Chapel overseen by the nationalized Alabama National Guard.
"We shall overcome some day."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks.
Before the march begins, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is joined on the the Brown Chapel steps by John Lewis, Ralph Abernathy, and Rabbi Joshua Heschel, far right.
The March

The marchers in route through Lowndes County on Monday, March 22.

Marchers joined by thousands arrive at the outskirts of Montgomery in a downpour on Wednesday morning, March 24.
Wednesday: Coming into Montgomery
Wednesday Afternoon: Arrival at St. Jude

Young people, jubilant in the success of the march, roam singing and chanting through the St. Jude complex.