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The first group of marchers, almost all of whom were black, walked up the left-hand sidewalk of the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they departed from Selma. Waiting for them at the other end of the bridge were the Alabama State Police. |
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The first group of marchers, almost all of whom were black, walked up the left-hand sidewalk of the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they departed from Selma. Waiting for them at the other end of the bridge were the Alabama State Police. |
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When the marchers reached the foot of
the Pettus Bridge, they were attacked and driven back by the Alabama
State Police.
Some of the state troopers were on horseback. Other state police, on foot, were seen beating the marchers with night sticks. The police fired tear gas into the fleeing demonstrators. |
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The demonstrators on this first march
were chased by the police back over the Edmund Pettus Bridge into Selma.
The entire encounter was filmed and played extensively on network television news. The sight of beatings with night sticks and state troopers charging on horseback galvanized public opinion outside the South. Suddenly there was a national movement in support of black voting rights. |
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This small park is located at the foot of the Pettus Bridge adjacent to the spot where state police attacked the marchers. One monument in the park is to Hosea Williams, Sr., one of the SCLC ministers who helped to lead the Selma to Montgomery voting rights march. |