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SELMA, ALABAMA Following enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the next thing on the civil rights agenda was voting rights for blacks in the South. This history sign commemorates a march for voting rights that began in Selma, Alabama, in the spring of 1965. |
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The first voting rights meeting in Selma
was held at the Tabernacle Baptist Church.
The front of the church is located on Broad Street, the main street of Selma. City law forbade blacks to enter or leave any building on Broad Street by the Broad Street door. |
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To accommodate this law, the builders of
the Tabernacle Baptist Church put this equally grand entrance on the
side street next to the church.
The black parishioners of this black church thus were required by city law to use this side entrance. |
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Voting is a county function in Alabama. The target of the voting rights protests and marches was the Dallas County Court House in Selma. |