Image via Complex Original
1.
Now that Selma boasts a Best Picture nomination, it's officially a must-watch—not that we didn't declare it as such already. Ava DuVernay's powerful film chronicles Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic march from Selma, Ala. to the state's capital in Montgomery in his efforts to abolish the south's brazenly racist voter restrictions. The efforts eventually led President Johnson to institute the Voting Rights Act.
DuVernay's film is garnering near-universal praise, both for her on-point translation of real events and lead actor David Oyelowo's commanding performance as Dr. King (ahem, Oscar voters). As awards season only increases the film's buzz, naturally more audiences are being exposed to this chapter of the Civil Rights movement for the first time, creating a thirst for additional knowledge that didn't fit in DuVernay's narrative. What better occasion than MLK Day to fill in some of the blanks for you with the full picture. Honor your day off with a few historical facts. Here are some things you probably didn't know about the march from Selma to Montgomery, irl.
2.Jimmie Lee Jackson's Murderer Was Sentenced Decades Later
The movement in Selma was galvanized after civil rights activist Jimme Lee Jackson's murder during a peaceful voting rights march. The movie stays true to the events: when state patrol officers attacked the march, Jackson and his mother fled to a nearby cafe to hide out. An officer in pursuit followed them, whereupon he savagely beat Jackson's mother before murdering Jackson in cold blood. Over forty years later, Jackson's killer was finally brought to justice when state patrol officer James Bonard Fowler was arrested on two counts of murder, first-degree and second-degree respectively. He eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter but served just six months in prison.
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3.The real reason "Turnaround Tuesday" happened
In the film, the events of "Turnaround Tuesday" are dramatized as MLK having an innate sense that if he kept the procession marching past the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where cops were suspiciously standing by the wayside appearing to unblock the path, another "Bloody Sunday" event was imminent. The real reason however, is a much more concrete decision rather than a last-minute call. A judge sympathetic to the cause was on the verge of granting a court order that would effectively prevent police from interfering with peaceful protests, but in the interim, he placed a restraining order, prohibiting marching for the week until he made his decision. In effect, "Turnaround Tuesday" was Martin's way of making a public statement while not squandering the judge's goodwill and disobeying his order. However he let very few in his circle in on his thought process, so naturally dozens of would-be marchers (some of whom flocked from other parts of the country after witnessing the "Bloody Sunday" events on the news) felt confused, even betrayed.
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4.SNCC organized a split campaign due to frustrations with MLK and the SCLC
When Martin and the SCLC came to town, another organization, SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) was already making efforts to impact voter registration changes, just at a much slower, arguably doomed-to-fail pace. Naturally tensions were already high between the two camps; despite working towards the same goal, SNCC reasonably felt as if MLK and his group were bogarting their movement with flashy antics that would get people hurt. After the events of "Turnaround Tuesday," SNCC members who weren't aware of Martin's reasoning and felt betrayed by his decision acted out with a "Second Front." Eager for action, SNCC frontman James Forman and his fellow members, along with Tuskegee Institute students, began demonstrating in Montgomery. MLK associate James Bevel tried to diffuse the demonstrations, accusing Forman of all but abandoning the SNCC's N for Nonviolence. The end result led to a micro "Bloody Sunday" of sorts that made the papers and landed Forman and Bevel in jail.
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5.The "Stars for Freedom" rally
The activism involvement or lack thereof from today's contemporary black artist is a topic of much debate, but during the Civil Rights Movement plenty of A-list musicians publicly voiced their support. Particularly during the march to Montgomery, several favorites showed out and put on a Stars to Freedom rally to voice their support. The likes of Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Tony Bennett, just to name a few, put on a show on a makeshift stage.
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6.LBJ's speech moved Martin to tears.
Dr. King's legacy is built on a series of timeless and rousing speeches, that no doubt affected hundreds who had the privilege of experiencing them first-hand on a deeply emotional level, to say nothing of the enduring effect they have today. But when Lyndon B. Johnson took to Congress to present what would become the Voting Rights Act, the historic moment of a president finally firmly and publicly championing black rights was so vindicating and powerful that MLK found himself on the opposite side of the podium, reacting emotionally. While watching the broadcast in the home of Richie Jean Jackson (portrayed in the film by Niecey Nash), whose house served as a sort of local headquarters for the movement, Martin silently kept to the back and by the end, a single tear was visible on his face. It was reportedly the first time anyone in the room, comprised of several of his closest confidants mind you, had ever seen him weep, let alone expose a similar emotional response.
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7.J. Edgar Hoover intentionally failed to warn MLK about assassination chatter.
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover viewed MLK as a high-level threat despite his nonviolent policies. As such, he tried to exploit the tension in Selma as an excuse to take Martin out, either by non-action, or as the film portrays, ominous other means. Hoover revised interceptions and communications and basically forbade his officers from issuing an official warning to King of several credible threats. The FBI kept consistent bugs and recordings on MLK and his associates, but any information they picked up that concerned their own safety apparently wasn't worth sharing.
[via At Canaan's Edge]