At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance—a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power

Though the Civil Rights Act federally outlawed segregation and race-based discrimination, many cities in the South are openly hostile towards integration. One such city is Selma, Alabama, where the local government is connected to the white supremacist White Citizens’ Councils. Selma’s sheriff, James Clark, is a staunch supporter of segregation. He wears a “‘Never’ (integrate) button,” openly signaling his opposition to civil rights and racial equality (175). Clark and his policemen employ violence to intimidate blacks from registering to vote or protesting segregation. One particularly brutal episode occurs on February 18, 1965, when police attack hundreds of black protestors who had planned a civil rights march. During the subsequent fighting, Jimmie Lee Jackson is murdered by a policeman when Jackson tries to protect his mother from being beaten.

Jackson’s murder brings racial tensions in Selma to a boiling point. In response, Martin Luther King Jr. calls for a march from Selma to Montgomery to commemorate Jackson’s death and to protest ongoing police brutality and racist violence. On the day of the march, protestors are quickly met by a line of police officers who are ordered to put an end to the protest. When the protestors refuse to back down, the police viciously attack the marchers—an event now known as “Bloody Sunday.