Two Bloody Sundays: Civil Rights in America and Ireland
CHAPTER ONE
BLOODY SUNDAYS The morning of March 7 1965 was cool and crisp It was a good day for a march Six hundred black protesters gathered outside Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Selma Alabama The protesters were ready to walk the 54 miles 87 km to Alabama’s state capital Montgomery They were protesting barriers that kept them from voting In the South African Americans were often forced to take literacy tests or pay a poll tax in order to vote The protesters hoped their march would change this Activists including John Lewis second from right held hands and sang protest songs before the attempted march in Selma Alabama
Officers sprayed tear gas at marchers as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama’s governor told the protesters that they could not march He sent police officers and state troopers to Selma The police were supposed to make sure the protesters did not leave the city The protesters were prepared to make the journey anyway The Edmund Pettus Bridge was six blocks away from the church The bridge was on the road
to Montgomery The protesters had to cross the bridge But police officers stood in their way White families stood alongside the road They yelled at the protesters The protesters faced the white officers They were at a standstill The protesters could not continue forward The sheriff told them to turn around The protesters ignored him They tried to walk forward in
