At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance—a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power

Though the Civil Rights Act federally outlawed segregation and race-based discrimination, many cities in the South were openly hostile toward integration. One such city was Selma, Alabama, where the local government was connected to the white supremacist White Citizens’ Councils. Selma’s sheriff, James Clark, was a staunch supporter of segregation and wore a “‘Never’ (integrate) button,” openly signaling his opposition to civil rights and racial equality (175). Clark and his policemen employed violence to intimidate Black people from registering to vote or protesting segregation. One particularly brutal episode occurred on February 18, 1965, when police attacked hundreds of Black protestors who had planned a civil rights march. During the subsequent fighting, Jimmie Lee Jackson was murdered by a policeman when he tried to protect his mother from being beaten.

Jackson’s murder brought racial tensions in Selma to a boiling point. In response, Martin Luther King Jr. called for a march from Selma to Montgomery to commemorate Jackson and protest ongoing police brutality and racist violence. On the day of the march, protestors were quickly met by a line of police officers who were ordered to put an end to the protest. When the protestors refused to back down, the police viciously attacked the marchers—an event now known as “Bloody Sunday.