Because They Marched: Chapters 1–2

But on this day, to the surprise of almost everyone, 105 teachers from Selma’s all-black segregated schools were making their way along the city’s streets toward the Dallas County Courthouse in the center of town.

Instead, they walked two abreast along the sidewalk, not bunching up but keeping a wide space between pairs, as though they were out for a casual afternoon stroll.

Reese explained that the teachers had asked the board of registrars to set aside a day each week for employees of the public schools to register as voters.

They had no official uniforms, but wore helmets of various kinds from army surplus stores, motorcycle shops and hard-hat construction sites, each bearing a small silver decal with “Sheriff’s posse” spelled out in black letters.

Some carried cattle prods that could deliver a painful electric shock without leaving a telltale mark.

“No coaxing was necessary....The teachers regrouped and we went up the steps in double file, each person staying with his or her original partner, and waited to be admitted inside....Once more the sheriff and his deputies started jabbing us with their clubs and pushed us back down the steps. The teachers went up the third time at my order. Once we were in place, the sheriff said, ‘Leave in one minute or get arrested.’”

By demonstrating in defiance of their white employers, the teachers had acted with courage.

They had taken their lessons in citizenship and civic responsibility to heart, setting an example for their teachers.

The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, approved in 1870 after the Civil War, states that the right of U.S. citizens to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, approved in 1870 after the Civil War, states that the right of U.S. citizens to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Those who passed the written test took an oral exam that was rigged to disqualify even the most highly educated blacks.

“The written test was only part of the reason for concern,” lamented Ernest Doyle, a black college graduate and veteran of World War II. “The verbal questions the registrar asked that were not on the written test made passing nearly impossible.”

The biggest barrier to voting, however, was the fear of reprisals.

“Black people in Selma were hesitant about getting involved [in politics],” Bernice Morton, a longtime Selma resident and voting rights activist, recalled.

“That fire went out,” Mrs. Morton said, “but the fire that was burning inside of the preacher could not be quenched.”

Ernest Doyle not only flunked the bubble test, he almost lost his carpentry business. “They boycotted my business because of my political activities,” he said.

Members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacy groups did not shrink from violence.

The only difference was the mechanism—how the water was delivered. “With the black one,” he said, “you practically had to put your mouth on the thing to drink out of it. On the white side they hardly had to bend over. Their water came up so free. This was mystifying.”

As black servicemen returned to the South after World War II, they began to ask why they should be oppressed at home when they had fought (in segregated combat units) to liberate people in distant lands.

As black servicemen returned to the South after World War II, they began to ask why they should be oppressed at home when they had fought (in segregated combat units) to liberate people in distant lands.

The league also called for the integration of the county’s schools.

Most signers of the petition “had to leave town because of intimidation and the economic squeeze the white people put on them.”

In a momentous 1954 court case called Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregation of the nation’s public schools violated the constitutional rights of black students—a landmark decision that would affect race relations across America.

In a momentous 1954 court case called Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregation of the nation’s public schools violated the constitutional rights of black students—a landmark decision that would affect race relations across America.

Her quiet defiance inspired the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott, mobilizing Montgomery’s black community and resulting in a Supreme Court decision that Alabama laws requiring segregation on city buses were unconstitutional.

Always the volunteers faced the looming threat of violence from white vigilantes determined to put an end to “race-mixing.”

Always the volunteers faced the looming threat of violence from white vigilantes determined to put an end to “race-mixing.”

Freedom riders gather outside their firebombed and burning bus on the outskirts of Anniston, Alabama, May 14, 1961.

They were saved from the fury of the mob when an undercover state police detective on board brandished his revolver, fired a shot into the air and ordered the attackers to fall back.

The mob dispersed as state troopers arrived with their weapons drawn.