The Voting Rights Act signed into law in August, 1965, was the result in part of direct action taken on the roads of Alabama earlier that year. Russell Freedman’s account summarizes the years of previous voting rights efforts before focusing on the intensifying standoffs in Alabama between activists and law enforcement. The first attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights took place on March 7, a day that became known as “Bloody Sunday” when demonstrators were gassed and beaten. The Turnaround Tuesday march two days later was carefully planned to make the point that marchers would not defy a court order but also would not back down: Martin Luther King Jr. led 1,500 people over the Edmund Pettus bridge, where they all kneeled in prayer before returning to Selma. By the time the march launched a third time, on March 21, there was national and international attention focused on Selma and, five days later, Montgomery, with the triumphant arrival of 25,000. Freedman’s account includes individual stories of courage, commitment, and loss, while his essential epilogue notes the recent Supreme Court decision striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, stating that “the meaning of American democracy remains a topic of debate and struggle.” (Age 13 and older)

A thorough and impassioned account of the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights from Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman.

1965. Selma, Alabama. The Edmund Pettus Bridge. 

This is the story of Bloody Sunday and the moments leading up to and after this fateful day in the fight for African American voting rights. 

Across the segregated South, African Americans were denied the most fundamental right in a democracy—the right to vote.
Tired of reprisals for attempting to register to vote, Selma's Black community began to protest. A march was planned for people, young and old, to march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights. But the march quickly became the site of horrific struggle as law officers brutally attacked peaceful demonstrators. When vivid footage and photographs of the violence was broadcast throughout the world, it attracted outrage and spurred demonstrators to complete the march at any cost. 

Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman has written a riveting account of this monumental event in the fight for civil rights. Illustrated with more than forty archival photographs, this is an essential chronicle of events every young person should know. 

ALA Notable Children's Book
California Reading Association, Eureka! Nonfiction Children's Honor Book
ILA Teachers' Choices
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Editors' Choice
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
A Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Book
NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
Paterson Prize for Books for Young People Honor Book
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection