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Before heading out on the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, visiting landmarks related to the Voting Rights movement in downtown Selma, Alabama, will add to your experience. There are several different landmarks to see, but the most important are listed here.
Dallas County Courthouse
First of all, the Dallas County Courthouse was the epicenter of the Voting Rights movement. It was here where African-Americans lined up to register to vote and in most cases were denied that right. Demonstrations took place on the eastern side of the courthouse.
Federal Building
Demonstrations also took place at the Federal Building across the street, drawing attention to the US Government’s inactivity on the Voting Rights issue. The Federal Building was built in 1909 and is now used as a US Post Office.
Tabernacle Baptist Church
Tabernacle Baptist Church, built in 1922, hosted the city’s first mass meeting on voting rights in 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke there on several occasions.
Clark Elementary School
Clark Elementary School opened in 1894. In January 1965, local teachers from the school marched to the Dallas County Courthouse to register to vote. It was seen as a courageous move by public employees who could have easily lost their jobs.
Sullivan Jackson Home
Sullivan Jackson, an African-American dentist, regularly hosted civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and Rev. Andrew Young at his house. From the house, those leaders negotiated with the US Justice Department about the Bloody Sunday events and the 1965 Voting Rights March.
Sullivan Building
The Sullivan Building was the location of Sam Boynton and Amelia Boynton Robinson’s office. These civil rights activists hosted meetings for the Dallas County Voters League in the 1950s and 1960s.
Public Safety Building
Across the street is the Cecil B. Jackson Public Safety Building, which was once the Selma City Hall and Jail. During demonstrations in the 1960s, many civil rights activists were arrested and held there, including Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy.
First Baptist Church
The First Baptist Church was built in 1894. It’s the oldest African-American Baptist congregation in Selma and the second oldest in Alabama. The Dallas County Voters League held meetings there, and Martin Luther King spoke there. In March 1965, marchers injured in the Bloody Sunday attack received treatment in the church’s basement. It was also a starting point for the Selma to Montgomery march.
Good Samaritan Hospital
Good Samaritan Hospital was built in 1944 and has been abandoned since 1983. Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot in nearby Marion during a peaceful voting rights demonstration on February 18, 1965, was brought to Good Samaritan but later died from his wounds. The hospital also treated Bloody Sunday victims. Plans are in the works to reopen it as a hospital.
Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church
Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church was the main starting point for the Selma to Montgomery March. It hosted mass meetings for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The church was built in 1908, and there are monuments to Martin Luther King and civil rights activists out front. It was named a National Historic Landmark on December 12, 1997.
George Washington Carver Homes
The George Washington Carver Homes are a large public housing project erected in 1952. Many civil rights activists who took part in the Selma to Montgomery March stayed with families living in the homes.
Rev. James J. Reeb Memorial
It’s possible to visit a memorial on the spot where Rev. James J. Reeb was brutally attacked on March 9, 1965. Reeb, a white Unitarian Universalist minister, was a civil rights activist and member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The night he was attacked, he had just eaten dinner at a black café with two other ministers.
After they left, they made a wrong turn and ended up near the Silver Moon Café, which was an all-white club. Four white men approached them and beat Reeb on the head with a club, while knocking the others to the ground and kicking them. Reeb died two days later in a Birmingham hospital. All four men were indicted on murder charges. An all-white jury acquitted three of the men while the fourth fled to Mississippi and never faced trial. On the building near the memorial is a mural dedicated to voting rights.
Edmund Pettus Bridge
Finally, the most symbolic landmark in Selma is the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a National Historic Landmark since February 27, 2013. The bridge, which was built in 1940, is named for Edmund Pettus, a former Confederate brigadier general, US Senator, and Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.
Activists made three attempts to cross the bridge. Activists first attempted to cross the bridge on March 7, 1965, which is commonly known as Bloody Sunday. Police attacked the protesters with billy clubs and tear gas as they attempted to march to Montgomery, injuring several people.
A second attempt occurred on March 9 and was led by Martin Luther King Jr. The activists walked across the bridge, knelt in prayer, and then turned around. This became known as Turnaround Tuesday.
The third attempt, which was successful, occurred after federal judge Frank Minis Johnson ruled that the activists had First Amendment rights to march in protest. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the Alabama National Guard to escort the marchers.
On Sunday, March 21, 1965, nearly 8,000 people assembled at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, walked through Selma, and crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge to begin the march to Montgomery. Among them were not only black activists and leaders, but activists of different races and religions. John Lewis, Rev. Hosea Williams, Amelia Boynton Robinson, Marie Foster, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakovos, Pastor Joseph Ellwanger, Rabbis Abraham Joshua Heschel and Maurice Davis, and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth all marched alongside Martin Luther King.
