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When blacks lined up at the Court House doorway to try to register to vote, white law enforcement officers pushed and shoved them down these steps and away from the building. Television coverage focused on Sheriff Jim Clark, an outspoken segregationist, who led the white resistance to blacks voting in Dallas County. |
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Ironically, across the street from the
Dallas County Court House was the U.S. Government Court House in Selma.
But, in the beginning, there was no help for the voting rights protestors from the U.S. Government. |
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In 1965 this building contained the city
and county jail in Selma.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and other voting rights demonstrators were imprisoned in this building. |
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In 1965 Mayor Joseph Smitherman of Selma was an outspoken critic of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the voting rights marches and protests. This historic building, a former school and hospital, was named in honor of Mayor Smitherman. |