The 1964 Civil Rights Act did not ensure an increase in the number of African American voters. Years of hard work in Mississippi added only 2% to the number of black registrants. Elsewhere in the Deep South segregationists stopped registration with threats, violence, and by more subtle means. The failure to add significant numbers to the voting rolls showed that the court system alone could not solve such a deep and complex problem.

In Selma, Alabama, African Americans made up a majority of the population, but only 1% of the voters. In 1964, SCLC announced plans to focus national attention on Selma. SNCC disagreed with SCLC's approach of bringing in outsiders instead SNCC wanted to teach locals how to lead themselves. Despite growing tension between the two groups, several demonstrations including Freedom Day were held during which 300 workers were arrested. The media also captured the images of 400 marchers who attempted to submit voter applications being viciously attacked by Sheriff James Clark and his officers.

SNCC invited Malcolm X to Selma. Malcolm did not have an opportunity to meet Dr. King during his visit though he spoke with Coretta. He was assassinated shortly after in New York. SNCC's invitation to Malcolm hinted at the organization's willingness to move away from the nonviolent beliefs and practices of Dr. King and the SCLC.

Outrage over the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson who was trying to protect his mother during a riot prompted plans for the Selma to Montgomery march. On Sunday, March 7, SCLC's Hosea Williams and SNCC's John Lewis led 600 nonviolent marchers on what would become known as Bloody Sunday. As the marchers reached the top of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they could see troopers and mounted men blocking the highway. ABC news broadcast the images of the marchers being tear-gassed and clubbed. National outrage influenced President Johnson's ratification of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The later successful march to Montgomery and the passage of the Voting Rights Act marked the end of one phase of the civil rights movement. Selma, said Roy Wilkins, was the civil rights movement's "last great parade."

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Hosea Williams
Malcolm X
James Clark
Lyndon Johnson
Jimmie Lee Jackson
Voting Rights Act
James Reeb
Viola Liuzzo