Eyewitness to the Real ‘Selma’

By Greg Tucker

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (center) and John Lewis (right) lead a group of demonstrators for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL, on March 9, 1965, two days after a group of protestors were beaten by Alabama State Troopers.

Congressman John Lewis played an integral role in the Civil Rights movement

The confrontation on the Edmund Pettus Bridge depicted in the Oscar-nominated motion picture “Selma” is a re-creation of events that most of us experience through grainy photos and black and white film footage. Congressman John Lewis lived it.

That encounter between Alabama State Troopers, county police deputies, and voting rights protestors is seen by many as the tipping point of the Civil Rights movement. Shocking images of policemen beating demonstrators with Billy clubs and spraying them with tear gas during a peaceful march in Selma, AL, were broadcast across the nation – and changed the minds of many.

The day of the march was nicknamed “Bloody Sunday” and accelerated the movement to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 later that year.

John Lewis walks across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL, on March 7, 1965, before his group of voting rights demonstrators were confronted by the police.

A young John Lewis, wearing a trench coat and backpack, can be seen in news footage at the front of the march being overrun by policemen and beaten. To this day he bears physical scars from Selma and other Civil Rights marches and protests.

Lewis first formed a relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when Lewis sought out his advice on attending a college that didn’t accept black applicants. His involvement with the Civil Rights movement led him to become the president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He subsequently spoke during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where Dr. King delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

Lewis tells the story of his first meeting with Dr. King in the video below, saying:

“He was so inspiring. He was so moving. And somehow and in some way, I wanted to become a part of that movement. And I did.”

“Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of service. And his day should be a day of service.”

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Lewis to direct the more than 250,000 volunteers of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency that was a predecessor of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Lewis received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Barack Obama in 2011.

Lewis is the last surviving member of the Civil Rights movement’s “Big Six” and currently serves as the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District.

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