Even though African Americans had been given the right to vote in 1869, discrimination still ran strong in some states, like Alabama. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, 600 demonstrators marched the streets of the capital city, Montgomery, Alabama to protest the discrimination and the killing of an African American man. The police attacked the protestors, and the TV cameras caught the attacks on tape and showed it on television to the the American public. TV viewers were very angry and formed an organized march two days later by Martin Luther King, Jr., but King got the marchers to turn around because they did not have federal judicial approval.
On March 18th, a judge said that the protestors could march, so President Johnson and his advisors worked to find a way to keep King and the other protestors safe. However, Governor Wallace was very strongly against allowing African Americans to be treated equally and being allowed to vote, so he did not want to spend money to protect them. Wallace demanded on TV that Johnson send in federal troops to stop the protest, and it made President Johnson furious. So on March 20, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson called the Alabama National Guard himself to come and support and protect the protestors as they marched 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery. Once they came to Montgomery on March 25, King stood on the steps of the Capitol building and gave his famous “How Long, Not Long” speech. The clash between President Johnson and Wallace changed the civil rights movement so much that 5 months later, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, and President Johnson signed it into law.
