'Bloody Sunday' Anniversary

This month marks the anniversary of the historic Selma to Montgomery marches in support of African American voting rights. The first march, nicknamed 'Bloody Sunday,' ended when county and state police attacked the unarmed marchers with billy clubs and tear gas on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, leaving Amelia Boynton unconscious. The image of her lying wounded on the bridge, coupled with the murder of activist James Reeb two days later, prompted a national outcry and led President Lyndon Johnson to urge Congress to pass the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

To learn more about 'Bloody Sunday' and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, try the following resources:

• 50 Years Ago: Mixed Views about Civil Rights But Support for Selma Demonstrators (Pew Research Center)
• 50 Years Ago, Selma's Bloody Sunday Sparked Voting Rights Act (NPR, Morning Edition)
• 1965 Selma to Montgomery March Fast Facts (CNN)
• Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery (Library of Congress Image Collection)
• Echos of Selma (CNN Interactive)
• How LIFE Magazine Covered the Selma Marches in 1965 (Time)
• John Lewis - March from Selma to Montgomery, "Bloody Sunday," 1965 (National Archives)

• John Lewis Remembers Police Attack on Bloody Sunday in Selma 50 Years Ago (Democracy Now Interview)
• Revisiting Selma (New York Times Interactive)

• These Rare Photos of the Selma March Place You in the Thick of History (Smithsonian Magazine)
• What LBJ Really Said About Selma (The Atlantic Video)

All of my posts on Civil Rights can be found here.