STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE
_____
JOINT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE MARCH FROM SELMA TO MONTGOMERY
WHEREAS, March 25, 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the 3rd of 3 marches
from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama in support of the voting rights movement,
which in turn contributed to the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark
achievement of the civil rights movement in the 1960s; and
WHEREAS, on March 7, 1965 approximately 600 civil rights marchers, led by John Lewis
of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, who later became a member of the United
States House of Representatives, and Reverend Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, headed east out of Selma, Alabama to the State Capitol in
Montgomery, Alabama; and
WHEREAS, the civil rights activists sought to nonviolently protest discriminatory voter
registration practices and the shooting of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot after protecting
his mother and grandfather in a civil rights demonstration on February 18, 1965 in a restaurant
in Marion, Alabama and who died 8 days later on February 26, 1965; and
WHEREAS, the nonviolent marchers were met and attacked with clubs, whips, police
dogs and tear gas by state troopers, local law enforcement officers and townspeople at the
Edmund Pettus Bridge as they were leaving Selma; and
WHEREAS, dozens of peaceful marchers were injured by state troopers, local law
enforcement officers and townspeople in the forced retreat; and
WHEREAS, images of innocent protestors brutally beaten and severely injured on March
7, 1965, remembered as "Bloody Sunday,'' were depicted on television screens and in
newspaper articles across the country; and
WHEREAS, Bloody Sunday galvanized a generation of nonviolent civil rights activists
and heightened support and awareness for the civil rights movement; and
WHEREAS, on March 9, 1965, 2 days later, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., led a
nonviolent protest of reportedly as many as 2,500 people before turning around after crossing
the Edmund Pettus Bridge due to a barricade of state troopers; and
WHEREAS, on March 15, 1965, despite pressure from political figures, United States
District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., issued an injunction allowing the voting rights
march from Selma to Montgomery to proceed, overturning Governor George Wallace's
prohibition of the protest; and
WHEREAS, on March 21, 1965, with the protection of United States Army troops, the
Alabama National Guard under federal command, the FBI and federal marshals, more than
3,000 people, led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., set out from Selma to Montgomery, a
54-mile journey, marching an average of 10 miles a day along Route 80 and sleeping in fields;
and
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 WHEREAS, the nonviolent protestors safely reached the steps of the State Capitol
building on March 25, 1965, by which point their numbers had grown to 25,000, including
many religious and community leaders of all denominations, races and backgrounds; and
WHEREAS, on March 17, 1965, with the Selma protestors at the forefront of the news,
President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress, calling for federal voting
rights legislation to dismantle the barriers that prevented African Americans from voting; and
WHEREAS, with the country captivated by the courage and conviction displayed by the
civil rights marchers and activists, the United States Congress passed and President Lyndon B.
Johnson enacted into law the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 on August 6, 1965; and
WHEREAS, many people from Maine, of all races and religions, were involved in not
only the march from Selma to Montgomery, but the civil rights struggle as well; now, therefore,
be it
RESOLVED: That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Thirty-second Legislature
now assembled in the First Regular Session, on behalf of the people we represent, take this
opportunity to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the historic civil rights marches from
Selma to Montgomery and to honor all those who struggled in search of equality and the
freedom to participate in our democracy.
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