Jimmie Lee Jackson Is Dead

Feb. 26, 1965 - Jimmie Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old Negro reportedly shot by an Alabama state trooper as policemen broke up a civil rights march the night of Feb. 18 in Marion, Ala., died today in a Selma hospital. (Pictured below, Jackson’s mother Viola, cousin Rachel Thomas, and grandfather Cager Lee at the hospital today to claim his body.)

The immediate cause of death was listed as infection and respiratory difficulty.

Jackson had suffered a bullet wound in the stomach and a lacerated scalp the night of the march. His doctor was quoted today as saying he had been badly beaten and that his back had been bruised.

It was predicted today that “the whole tempo of the voter registration drive will probably increase” as a result of Jackson’s death. The forecast came from the Rev. James Bevel, Alabama project director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

“We will probably shift into second gear in a dramatic way,” he said.

The same night Jackson was shot, several other Negroes were bloodied and bruised by state troopers with nightsticks, and three newsmen were attacked by white bystanders.

About 3,400 Negroes have been arrested in Marion and Selma since Negroes began demonstrating in mid-January against restrictions on Negro voting.

Bevel said of Jackson’s death:“This type of thing is possible, with no recourse for Negroes, as long as we do not have a democratic government in this state.”

He said it was likely that Dr. Martin Luther King would preach at Jackson’s funeral. Dr. King is in California on a speaking and fundraising tour. He is scheduled to return to Alabama Monday.

Bevel suggested at a mass meeting today at Selma that the Negroes of Selma walk to the Capitol at Montgomery, 50 miles to the east, to protest Jackson’s death to Governor George Wallace.

“I tell you, the death of that man is pushing me kind of hard,” he told 600 persons at Browns Chapel Methodist Church. “The blood of Jackson will be on our hands if we don’t march. Be prepared to walk to Montgomery. Be prepared to sleep on the highways.”

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