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STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE
_____
JOINT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE MARCH FROM SELMA TO MONTGOMERY
WHEREAS,
from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama in support of the voting rights movement,
which in turn contributed to the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark
achievement of the civil rights movement in the 1960s; and
WHEREAS,
of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, who later became a member of the United
States House of Representatives, and Reverend Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, headed east out of Selma, Alabama to the State Capitol in
Montgomery, Alabama; and
WHEREAS,
registration practices and the shooting of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot after protecting
his mother and grandfather in a civil rights demonstration on February 18, 1965 in a restaurant
in Marion, Alabama and who died 8 days later on February 26, 1965; and
WHEREAS,
dogs and tear gas by state troopers, local law enforcement officers and townspeople at the
Edmund Pettus Bridge as they were leaving Selma; and
WHEREAS,
enforcement officers and townspeople in the forced retreat; and
WHEREAS,
7, 1965, remembered as "Bloody Sunday,'' were depicted on television screens and in
newspaper articles across the country; and
WHEREAS,
and heightened support and awareness for the civil rights movement; and
WHEREAS,
nonviolent protest of reportedly as many as 2,500 people before turning around after crossing
the Edmund Pettus Bridge due to a barricade of state troopers; and
WHEREAS,
District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., issued an injunction allowing the voting rights
march from Selma to Montgomery to proceed, overturning Governor George Wallace's
prohibition of the protest; and
WHEREAS,
Alabama National Guard under federal command, the FBI and federal marshals, more than
3,000 people, led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., set out from Selma to Montgomery, a
54-mile journey, marching an average of 10 miles a day along Route 80 and sleeping in fields;
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WHEREAS,
building on March 25, 1965, by which point their numbers had grown to 25,000, including
many religious and community leaders of all denominations, races and backgrounds; and
WHEREAS,
President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress, calling for federal voting
rights legislation to dismantle the barriers that prevented African Americans from voting; and
WHEREAS,
civil rights marchers and activists, the United States Congress passed and President Lyndon B.
Johnson enacted into law the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 on August 6, 1965; and
WHEREAS,
only the march from Selma to Montgomery, but the civil rights struggle as well; now, therefore,
be it
RESOLVED: That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Thirty-second Legislature
now assembled in the First Regular Session, on behalf of the people we represent, take this
opportunity to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the historic civil rights marches from
Selma to Montgomery and to honor all those who struggled in search of equality and the
freedom to participate in our democracy.