Selma Civil Rights Movement

1376 Words6 Pages
"Selma" is the story of a movement. The film relates the important but turbulent period in 1965, when Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. led a campaign to secure equal voting rights for African American in the South. The impressive march from Selma to Montgomery, after being broadcasted to the nation, resulted in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. "Selma" tells the story of how the visionary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his brothers and sisters in the movement encouraged political change that forever transformed history. I had a mixture of many feelings as I watched “Selma”. I had guilt, shame and anger but I also had hope and relief. During the three tense…show more content…
It is well known that other marches were done in 1965 (Sargent, 2004). However, the Selma marches and their protests made many different opinions regarding the Civil Rights Movement. The most significant piece of information regarding the movie, in my opinion, is the moment that media gets involved and shows to the nation all the events regarding the civil rights movement. National media showed the marches on television news covered around Selma and the nation saw violent and brutality acts used against protesters and police. This small detail made a difference in general knowledge. People need to see the truth and relate to the reality around them. The reasons the Freedom Riders were beaten and their bus was burned was that many of the people were not aware of this violence because no one was there to make it public. People reacted as they watched the marches in Selma; people needed to react to what was be televised on the news. Their reactions to this violent act resulted in the introduction of the Voting Rights Act passed into congress, introduced by President Johnson.
Many people were able to register to vote. Having the vote made a big difference (Bass,
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