Civil rights marchers morning campfire sends smoke spiraling skyward near Selma, as they prepare to break camp today and resume their march to the state capitol at Montgomery. The demonstrators spent a cold night in tents in an open field about seven miles from Selma, where the march started out yesterday. March 24, 1965

1965

Civil rights marchers morning campfire sends smoke spiraling skyward near Selma, as they prepare to break camp today and resume their march to the state capitol at Montgomery. The demonstrators spent a cold night in tents in an open field about seven miles from Selma, where the march started out yesterday. March 24, 1965, 1965. America. Gelatin silver print, wirephoto; image: 14.2 x 22.5 cm (5 9/16 x 8 7/8 in.); paper: 14.6 x 23.3 cm (5 3/4 x 9 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg 2021.33 Protests demanding equal voting rights for Blacks were met with resistance, arrests, and sometime, violence. Alabama became the focus of these protests, culminating in the famous 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on March 21-25, 1965. Press coverage, especially photographs, aroused public awareness and helped lead, five months later, to passage of the national Voting Rights Act, which allowed Black voters to challenge restrictions and greatly strengthened their participation in elections. Despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banning racial discrimination in voting, Blacks in southern states were still being denied voting access in 1965.