Remembering Bloody Sunday: We Must Continue To Protect Voting Rights

Source: SAUL LOEB / Getty

Today marks the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. On March 7, 1965, a peaceful protest led by Black civil rights leaders and activists, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Amelia Boynton Robinson, and 600 others, quickly turned violent as they marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, demanding voting rights. While making their way to Montgomery to protest discriminatory voting laws, they were met with brutal force from law enforcement, who used tear gas and physical violence to stop the march. The shocking images of the violence, broadcast live on national TV, left 58 people injured, with more than a dozen hospitalized, including Lewis, who suffered a skull fracture, according to The National Archives. 

Although tragic, the event became a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle, sparking the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The landmark legislation helped to eliminate racial discrimination in voting and removed barriers that Black voters faced, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and voter intimidation and violence, as noted by the Campaign Legal Center. The courage of the marchers and the brutality they endured played a crucial role in advancing civil rights for Black Americans, shaping the nation’s future commitment to equality.

MORE: ‘Bloody Sunday’: Commemorating The Selma To Montgomery Marches From 59 Years Ago

History is repeating itself right now, but like our ancestors, we must fight back.

As we reflect on Bloody Sunday’s history and the sacrifices of our ancestors on that painful day, Glenn Harris, President of Race Forward, a racial justice organization, urges Black America to continue pushing back against harmful policies that threaten to undo the progress made by those fearless protesters. According to the Brennan Center, between 2021 and 2024, states passed 79 restrictive voting laws—nearly three times the number passed between 2017 and 2020 (27) and more than four times the total from 2013 to 2016 (17). Some of these laws target the expansion of mail voting, while others impose requirements for documentary proof of citizenship, such as birth certificates, passports, or naturalization papers, to vote.

“On this day 60 years ago, our ancestors endured brute physical violence,” Harris said in a statement. “Civil rights activists were beaten for no reason other than having the audacity to demand the right to vote. While those who opposed voting rights assaulted the bodies of brave freedom fighters, they could never extinguish our ancestors’ yearning for the ballot box. In the same way our ancestors persisted, we must persist today in our fight against those determined to turn back not only the progress of the past decades but the very notion that everyone deserves the right to thrive in this country.”

Harris added, “While our struggle may look different from that of our ancestors, make no mistake that we are indeed in the same struggle. The good news is that the fight of our ancestors shows us how to organize and prepare for this moment.  We have the persistence, stamina, and hope needed to continue our righteous organizing for justice. Our job in this moment is to harness the courage, the tenacity and the drive of people like Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Boynton Robinson, John Lewis, and so many others. We don’t need to be perfect but we do need to be tenacious.”  

SEE ALSO:

From Lunch Counters To Flash Mobs: Black Activists Birth A New Civil Rights Movement

Examining Nat King Cole’s Legacy Through The Lens Of Civil Rights

Read more