America's legacy of inter-racial violence stripped bare
- 9 years ago
It has been 50 years since unarmed marchers from Selma, Alabama set out in defiance of repression in 1965, to demonstrate African-Americans’ constitutional rights, and state troopers attacked them.
When Alabama’s Governor refused to protect the marchers, President Johnson ordered the US Army, National Guard, FBI and Federal Marshals to do so.
At that time, one hundred years after the abolition of slavery throughout the United States, citizens’ rights were still not universally upheld.
Martin Luther King Jr. had led ‘The March on Washington’ in 1963, and delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech to end racial discrimination. It led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The struggle was far from over. Peaceful protest and civil disobedience were joined by militantism, and unrest developed into violence.
The 1967 beating and death of a cab driver in Newark, New Jersey, rumoured to be at the hands of the police, sparked deadly riots in most major cities. King’s assassination t
When Alabama’s Governor refused to protect the marchers, President Johnson ordered the US Army, National Guard, FBI and Federal Marshals to do so.
At that time, one hundred years after the abolition of slavery throughout the United States, citizens’ rights were still not universally upheld.
Martin Luther King Jr. had led ‘The March on Washington’ in 1963, and delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech to end racial discrimination. It led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The struggle was far from over. Peaceful protest and civil disobedience were joined by militantism, and unrest developed into violence.
The 1967 beating and death of a cab driver in Newark, New Jersey, rumoured to be at the hands of the police, sparked deadly riots in most major cities. King’s assassination t