Member-only story
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Selma in Turmoil
Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. and Historic Selma, Alabama
Today is a strange day of dichotomy in history. In 1878, the US Supreme Court ruled race separation on trains was unconstitutional, however, on this day in 1963, George Wallace was sworn in as Alabama’s Governor, promising “segregation forever.”
And this weekend we celebrate the vision of the first President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Martin Luther King, Jr.
King organized two of the three marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma to protect voting rights on March 7, 1965.
The city of Selma, Alabama is currently in shambles as a string of over 33 tornadoes ravaged the state. A tornado, described as a E-2 or E-3, has devastated downtown Selma and left at least 9 killed across the state.
While it appears the Edmund Pettus Bridge was spared in this storm, city officials were literally governing from the streets of the city using light from car headlights for operations.