mar 14, 1965 - March for Selma

Description:

The Westfield Civic Improvement Association, the Westfield Negro History Club, and the Westfield Area Committee for Human Rights organized a march in an expression of sympathy with the voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama. More than 350 people marched from Bethel Baptist Church on Trinity Place to Mindowaskin Park

The police chief allowed the march to occur with the provision that the marchers would be in columns of two with no singing or signs. Mayor Robery Mulreany had asked the organizers to cancel the march because he felt it was a traffic hazard and that “a better way could be found to express justifiable concern over activities of Alabama authorities.”

The program began with a prayer by Rev. Jerome Brown, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, at 10:30am. At Mindowaskin, marchers stood in silence to honor Jimmy Lee Jackson and the Rev. James J. Reeb, both of whom were killed while peacefully protesting in Alabama.

Photo: Ralph Jefferson speaks accompanied by Charles Morrison and Rev. John Flanagan
Credit: The Westfield Leader

Added to timeline:

Date:

Images: