50 years ago, OU students travelled to Alabama to join the historic march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the 1965 voting rights march in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery led by Martin Luther King, Jr.
While the nation had its eyes on Alabama, several Ohio University students traveled there to join the march, according to a Post report from March 19, 1965.
The article stated 15 OU students were expected to join two others already in Alabama for the march.
The march was part of a campaign to improve voting rights for black people in the South, and included members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
The initial march in Selma began on March 7. State troopers and local officers intercepted the protesters and ordered them to disperse. When the marchers refused, the police attacked the crowd with clubs and tear gas. This event became known as Bloody Sunday.
The march gained national attention, and a federally recognized march left Selma on March 21, accompanied by hundreds of Alabama National Guard members.
“About 5,000 people will march about the first 15 miles from Selma and only about 300 will go the next 25 miles,” Rev. George Kennedy said in the article. “Some 10,000 people will then come from Montgomery and walk the last 10 miles with them.”
The marchers successfully reached Montgomery on March 25th.
After the march, Vernon Alden, then Ohio University president, commended the efforts of students and faculty who participated in a letter to The Post. He also commended students, faculty, administrators and Athens residents who supported the march through a vigil held on campus.
“I hope that the recent Montgomery demonstration made us all aware that, while we have much to be proud of, we also have much yet to accomplish,” Alden said.
Alden said many forms of overt racism had been removed from Athens, but added that “inertia and apathy” had limited progress toward an equal society.
“I sincerely hope that the spark that was ignited last week will continue to burn more brightly in coming months and years,” he said.
The marches in Alabama ultimately resulted in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited racial discrimination in voting.
@AlxMeyer
am095013@ohio.edu
