The eerie silence was broken only by the sound of scuffling feet as marchers approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The mood was sober. Hundreds of men, women, and children had been protesting in Selma for weeks to win black Americans the right to vote. They’d been threatened. Been arrested. Jailed. This march was likely to end in violence, yet they went anyway. But when state troopers attacked with billy clubs and tear gas, the brute force was a shock. Many were injured, including children. But not even Bloody Sunday, as March 7 came to be known, was enough to deter the marchers. Led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., they were committed to the voting rights movement despite the risks. Not even the youngest protestors gave up, and their defiance and courage were inspiring.
