Mar 01, 2012 - Sale 2271

Sale 2271 - Lot 252

Price Realized: $ 780
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(CIVIL RIGHTS.) KING, MARTIN LUTHER JR. SELMA-MONTGOMERY MARCH. Selma, March 24th, 1965. Gelatin silver print, 8 x 9-5/8 inches; United Press International stamps and descriptive label on reverse; matted. Montgonmery, AL, 1965

Additional Details

There were three Selma--to--Montgomery marches in 1965 that marked a political and emotional peak in the American civil rights movement. They grew out of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by local African-Americans who formed the Dallas County Voters League (DCVL). In 1963, the DCVL and organizers from the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (Stokely Carmichael and SNCC) began voter-registration work. When white resistance to Black voter registration proved intractable, the DCVL requested the assistance of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who brought many prominent civil rights and civic leaders to support the voting rights movement. The first march took place on March 7th, so-called "Bloody Sunday." The second, on March 9th, was halted literally in mid-span because a court order, which would have enabled the marchers to pass unmolested, did not come through. Finally, on March 24th, a large group, led by Martin Luther King, Jr. crossed from Selma into Montgomery. The image here shows the marchers as they approached Selma.