Description

This film contains footage of the March 1965 voter registration demonstrations in Selma, Alabama. There is sound at the beginning, but the majority of the film is raw footage with no sound. It first shows African American protesters, including students, marching and singing in front of a courthouse. There is footage with sound of Martin Luther King Jr. speaking, followed by scenes of Andrew Young, John L. Lewis and other black leaders. The film also includes scenes around the Edmund Pettus Bridge, including the violent police attack on the marchers shown from a distance. An injured protester is shown being lifted by other protesters and a police officer, and there are several scenes of armed police officers before and after the violence. The film also shows Governor LeRoy Collins arriving to view the march and going to speak with Martin Luther King Jr. President Lyndon Johnson appointed Collins head of the Community Relations Service (CRS) in 1964. At the request of President Johnson, Collins came to Selma on behalf of the CRS to help mediate a solution to the crisis. After the footage from 1965, there is also a fragment from a later piece, also without sound, that includes shots of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and Martin Luther King Sr.

Record Contributed By

Florida State Archives

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia