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Under the bright spring skies of Sunday morning, March 21, a crowd of 8,000 stood before the twin-towered brick facade of Brown's A.M.E. Chapel in Selma, Alabama. On the steps, an ecumenical service was in progress, the prelude to a historic fifty-mile march from Selma to the state capitol at Montgomery.

"Those of us who are Negroes don't have much because of the system," said Dr. Martin Luther King. "We don't have much education and some of us don't know how to make our nouns and verbs agree. But thank God we have our bodies, our feet, and our souls. We want to present our bodies and feet so the world will know the truth as we see it. We'll march with great love for America, because we have a great faith in democracy.

"Shortly before one o'clock on the fifth day, the marchers, who had come from the grounds of St. Jude's Church and Hospital in Montgomery, now numbering some 25,000, were massed before the white capitol, from the classic dome of which the state and Confederate flags were flying, the U.S. flag being on a separate staff in a corner of the grounds. It was a symbolic picture—the orderly assembly of demonstrators headed by the 300 who for fifty miles had presented their bodies and feet for the cause of freedom, and the capitol, representing the power structure of segregation. In purpose and dramatic context, it was a decisive civil rights demonstration.

At the close of a 2 ½-hour program, King spoke with moving eloquence. "We stand," he said, "with the conviction that segregation is on its deathbed in Alabama. … We're on the move now and no burning churches will deter us.

"At four o'clock the assembly was over. A committee of twenty Alabama residents whose names had been approved by acclamation went to the capitol to present their petition, but were told that the Governor's office was closed. On the committee was the Rev. Joseph W. Ellwanger, a white Lutheran minister from Birmingham, and a white student from the University of Alabama. Governor Wallace made a statement that the committee was unacceptable because of the character of some of its members.

The Selma-to-Montgomery march was executed with the permission of a federal judge and under the protective escort of National Guardsmen mobilized by President Johnson. It began at 12:40 Sunday, on the same street where two weeks before a group of some 500 marchers were attacked by police, an event which aroused the conscience of millions. This time they crossed the bridge spanning the muddy Alabama without incident.

It was a varied multitude—young and old, white and black, educated and uneducated, a few beatnik types, and ministers in clerical garb. As they moved out of the city, most of the crowd turned back, the federal court order having limited the core participants to 300. All but about twenty in the actual line of march were Negroes from Alabama. Precedence was given those who had faced police violence.

So the march continued. Some in the line carried American and U.N. flags. The overall spirit was cheerful; disaffection was not noticeable and the torrential rains on the third day elevated, rather than depressed, morale.

Among those in line was a one-legged young man on crutches, two nuns, a number of clergymen, and numerous women and children. During the nightly encampments much of the hard work such as setting up tents and latrines was done by fifty students from San Francisco Theological Seminary accompanied by their president, Dr. Theodore Gill.

The group developed a warm feeling of friendship and unity. Meetings were held at the campsite in the evenings, and occasional hymns added a devotional tone. A Negro Methodist minister said that the match represented the American melting pot. He saw it as an expression of concern for constitutional rights. The ultimate solution, he declared, lies in the grace of God. He recognized the historic manifestation of grace at the Cross, yet felt it was being silently proclaimed at the march.

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January (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44