Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a march in Alabama in 1965 to bring awareness to voting rights issues in the South, facing opposition from Governor George Wallace. President Lyndon B. Johnson provided federal troop protection for the marchers, which helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year. The act challenged racism and segregation through nonviolent resistance, as inspired by the teachings of Mahati Gandhi.

1.  Dr. King marches to
bring awareness about
voting rights in the
South
 Alabama Governor
George Wallace opposes
the march
 LBJ protected marchers
w/ federal troops
 Brought about Voting
Rights Act of 1965

2.  August 11-16, 1965
 Frustration when a routine
arrest by an LA police
officer turned into a riot.
 National Guard restored
order- 34 dead, 898
injured, 4000 arrested
▪ $100 million in damage
 Kerner Commission-white
racism was responsible for
the tensions that led to
the riots

3.  1964, a campaign to
register voters in the
South
 1000 College Students
went to Mississippi
 June 21- 2 white New
Yorkers and an African-
American were abducted
and killed
 1964-6.7% Miss. Blacks
registered to vote
 1969-66.5% Miss. Blacks
registered to vote

4.  Challenged racism &
segregation w/ non-
violence and passive
resistance-
 Beliefs of Gandhi

5.  Family moved to Lansing,
Michigan to escape racism
▪ Dad murdered at 3, “reported
suicide”
 Orphaned, life of crime, while
in jail met Elijah Mohammed-
Nation of Islam
 God was Black & great war
would occur between races
 Believed in Black Power
▪ African-American movement
that focused on gaining control
of economic and political
power, by force if necessary.

6.  Beliefs
 The white man was the
devil with whom blacks
could not live.
 “Integration was dead.
Absolute segregation of
the races was the goal.”
 Killed Feb. 21, 1965 after
he broke w/ the nation of
Islam