March 1965 witnessed one of the emotional and political peaks of the civil rights movement. Months of voter registration efforts, marches and protests in Selma, Alabama, had culminated in the shooting death of a marcher by an Alabama state trooper in February 1965.
In response, leaders of the voter registration efforts decided to stage a march from Selma to Montgomery to confront George Wallace with the death of the marcher and his complicity in that act. Three efforts to make the march from Selma to Montgomery took place in March 1965. The first on March 7 is remembered as Bloody Sunday when marchers were gassed and beaten as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The second effort on March 9 was turned back by state troopers and a court injunction. On March 11, a Unitarian minister who had come to Selma in support of the marchers died as a result of a beating he had received in Selma.
On March 16, President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to present legislation that would become the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Finally, on March 21 after the injunction had been lifted, the marchers to Montgomery crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the first day of their journey to Montgomery. They arrived four days later where on March 25, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave what has become known as the “How Long?” speech on the steps of the state capitol. Below are some excerpts from that speech. We will post some additional excerpts tomorrow, the day we celebrate his birth. A complete copy of the text can be found here “Our God is Marching On!”
Last Sunday, more than eight thousand of us started on a mighty walk from Selma, Alabama. We have walked through desolate valleys and across the trying hills. We have walked on meandering highways and rested our bodies on rocky byways. Some of our faces are burned from the outpourings of the sweltering sun. Some have literally slept in the mud. We have been drenched by the rains.
Our bodies are tired and our feet are somewhat sore. But today as I stand before you and think back over that great march, I can say, as Sister Pollard said-a seventy-year-old Negro woman who lived in this community during the bus boycott-and one day, she was asked while walking if she didn’t want to ride. And when she answered, “No,” the person said, “Well, aren’t you tired?” And with her ungrammatical profundity, she said, “My feets is tired, but my soul is rested.” And in a real sense this afternoon, we can say that our feet are tired, but our souls are rested.
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Today I want to tell the city of Selma, today I want to say to the state of Alabama, today I want to say to the people of America and the nations of the world, that we are not about to turn around.
We are on the move now.
Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us. We are on the move now. The burning of our churches will not deter us. The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us. We are on the move now.
The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us. We are on the move now. The wanton release of their known murderers would not discourage us. We are on the move now.
Like an idea whose time has come, not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us.
We are moving to the land of freedom.
Let us therefore continue our triumphant march to the realization of the American dream.
© The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.
