Is Democracy on the Line?

SELMA, Ala. — On March 7, 1965, Black civil rights activists were brutally attacked while marching for voting rights in what became known as Bloody Sunday. The violent response to their peaceful protest sparked national outrage and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Now, 60 years later, thousands are gathering in Selma for the 2025 Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee to commemorate this historic moment. The event serves as both a remembrance and a call to action, highlighting ongoing voting rights challenges and urging the next generation to continue the fight for democracy.

Source: Michael M. Santiago / Getty

Bloody Sunday: A Defining Moment in Civil Rights History

On March 7, 1965, more than 500 Black demonstrators gathered at Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma. They planned to march 54 miles to Montgomery to demand voting rights and hold Alabama Gov. George Wallace accountable for the police killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a Black church deacon.

CBS 17 states that when the marchers reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, more than 50 Alabama state troopers and dozens of possemen on horseback blocked their path. Despite being unarmed and peaceful, the marchers were met with tear gas, batons, and horse-mounted officers trampling them.

Previously reported by BOSSIP, John Lewis, then chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was among those beaten with a troopers club, suffering a fractured skull—at just 25 years old at the time. At least 17 people were hospitalized, and 40 others required medical treatment.

The attack was broadcast live on national television, exposing the brutality of segregationist policies and forcing America to confront its deep racial injustices.

Two weeks later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a federally protected march of more than 3,000 marchers on a five-day, 54-mile march to Montgomery. That summer, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, banning racial discrimination in voting.

They marched so we could vote. They bled so we could have a say. So why, in 2025, are we still fighting the same battles?

See list of events for the Bloody Sunday 60th anniversary and how we can continue protecting voting rights in 2025 after the flip!