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Voting Rights Demonstrations Continue in Selma

Jan. 22, 1965 - One hundred and five Negro teachers lined the steps of the Dallas County courthouse today in Selma, Ala., in a voter-registration demonstration. They were pushed away with nightsticks by Sheriff James Clark and five deputies.

It was the first time so large a number of public school teachers had been known to participate on an organized basis in the civil rights movement in the South. Except in rare instances, teachers have to answer to school boards made up of whites who oppose teacher participation in the movement.

The officers twice repelled the group from the Alabama Street entrance by jabbing them in the ribs and forcing them down the stairs. The teachers had assembled in a line two abreast to protest refusal of the Board of Registrars to set aside a day each week for employees of the public schools to register to vote.

“You can’t make a playhouse out of the corridors of this courthouse,” Sheriff Clark barked. “Some of you think you can make it a Disneyland.”

The tense confrontation, witnessed by crowds from across the street, lasted about 30 minutes. During that time, the chairman of the Selma School Board, E.A. Stewart, repeatedly warned the group against making an “illegal attempt” to enter the courthouse.

“If you do, you are in danger of losing all of the gains you have made,” the white attorney told them.

After being pushed back for the second time, the group waited on the sidewalk for 20 minutes and marched to the Browns Chapel Methodist Church, where they were cheered by hundreds of students and adults.

The demonstration was the fourth held this week under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King in an effort to speed up the registration of Negro voters.



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© 2024 by Joe Rubenstein

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