BRIEF HISTORY OF BLOODY SUNDAY, TURN AROUND TUESDAY ​AND SELMA TO MONTGOMERY MARCHES
In 1993, the National Voting Rights Museum & Institute had the first Bridge Crossing Jubilee in conjunction with 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, Wallace Community College, the City of Selma, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This annual event is held the first full weekend of every March to commemorate “Bloody Sunday", and celebrate the Voting Rights Movement, the March from Selma-to-Montgomery, and the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Jubilee includes over 40 events including a street festival of music and vendors, a mass meeting and mock trial, an Intergenerational Hip Hop Summit, a Children’s Sojourn, Invisible Giants Conference, Freedom Flame Awards Banquet, the Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King Unity Breakfast and many other informative and fun events. Check out the event schedule. Entertainers and speakers for Jubilee 2014 will be announced at a later date. Since its beginning in 1993, the notoriety of the Jubilee has spread across the country and abroad. As a result, tens of thousands of people from across the Country and the World visit Selma the first week in March each year for the opportunity to participate in the Jubilee. They come to hear the personal stories of people who participated in the movement, celebrate and commemorate the Voting Rights Struggle and talk with famous Americans who attend, such as, Presidents William Clinton and Barak Obama, Sectary of State Hillary Clinton, Congressman John Lewis, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Mrs. Amelia Boynton, Joseph Lowery, Winnie Mandela and many others.Because the Jubilee continues to grow, it was decided in 2010 to form an independent non-profit to organize and host the Jubilee along with its historical sponsors. The Bridge Crossing Jubilee was incorporated as a non-profit 501C3.
February 18, 1965
Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot dead in a restaurant in the city of Marion, Alabama. On the night of February18, 1965, approximately 500 people left Zion United Methodist Church in Marion and attempted a peaceful walk to the Perry County Jail about a half a block away where SCLC field worker, James Orange was being held. A line of Marion City police, sheriff’s deputies and Alabama State Troopers met them. Street lights were abruptly turned off and the police began to beat the protestors. Then 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson with his mother and grandfather ran into Mack’s Café behind the church and were pursued by Alabama State Troopers.
March 7, 1965
When the troopers began to attack them in the restaurant, Jimmie Lee tried to protect his mother and Fowler shot him twice in the abdomen. Mr. Jackson died at Good Samaritan Hospital eight days later.Jimmie Lee Jackson’s death prompted the call for a March from Selma to Montgomery on March 7, 1965 for the right to vote. On that fateful day, six hundred peaceful marchers flanked two by two, headed east out of Selma on U.S. Route 80. They got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away, where state and local lawmen attacked them on horse back with billy clubs and tear gas. That day became known as Bloody Sunday and helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
March 9, 1965
After the brutal attack on the marchers, Dr. King sent a telegram around the country asking for ministers of all faiths to come to Selma, Alabama to march to Montgomery, Alabama two days after Bloody Sunday, and simultaneously the Federal Court issued a restraining order prohibiting the march.With 2,000-3,000 people of all races waiting to march, Dr. King made a decision to continue the march in defiance of the Federal Court order. The second march began on March 9. The marchers were singing "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round". The Alabama state troopers met them when they reached the bottom of the Edmund Pettus Bridge once again. The marchers dropped to their knees and prayed. After prayers they rose and turned the march back to Brown Chapel Church, avoiding another confrontation with state troopers and skirting the issue of whether to obey Judge Johnson’s court order. This march became known as Turnaround Tuesday.Finally a Federal Court granted permission for the Selma to Montgomery March and on March 21 over 3,500 people of all races including ministers of all faiths, leaders from major Civil Rights organizations and celebrities
Contact
Bridge Crossing Jubilee,
1410 Water Avenue,
Selma, AL 36701,
United States
Tel: 334-526-2626