Civil Rights Diary

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The group of non-violent protestors finally made it to the capital in Montgomery, Alabama on March 25, it took us 5 days and a long 54 miles to get there from Selma to Montgomery. We were marching for the rights of Negroes to vote. Martin Luther King came to Montgomery, Alabama and gave a speech and he stated “The end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience. And that will be a day, not of the white man, not of the black man. That will be the day of man as man” (MLK, 1965). A group of March leaders make an effort to deliver a petition to Governor George Wallace, but were turned away. That night a housewife from Michigan by the name of Violla Liuzzo, who was helping the Selma marchers get home from Montgomery, was killed by Ku Klux Klan members. Then finally the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed on August 6, 1965, that was a gigantic victory for Negroes.

The march took bravery and sweat and a lot of tears and a firm pledge by Negro leaders and those who participated as well. The marchers knew there would be a good chance that we could be hurt or even killed, but it was worth the risk to make sure we have the right to vote like everyone else in the world. The march did what Martin Luther King and other Negro leaders thought it would do to get other Americans other than the Negro to standup for a cause of Civil Rights.

References

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/selma-montgomery-march