SELMA Summary
Christie Omar
LSN, 3B
Mr. Isebor
1-29-2015
SELMA Summary In Selma we look back at the 1965 campaign by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to secure equal voting rights for African-American citizens. That political battle was waged in the deep south, where King organized marches from the town of Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in protest of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s hesitation on voting rights legislation.
Looking behind the curtain of history, we learn more about the political obstacles and negotiations King had to navigate in order to realize his agenda – including compromises within his own political, racial, and religious affiliations in order to achieve a greater good. Probing even deeper, we learn more about the toll that being an icon of Civil Rights took on Martin the man, his family and marriage. In 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King attend the ceremony in Oslo, Norway, where he accepts his Nobel Peace Prize. Four young girls are then shown walking down the inside steps of a church, talking. An explosion goes off, killing all four girls and injuring others. In Selma, Alabama, Annie Lee Cooper is shown filling out a form to become a registered voter. The white registrar asks her increasingly difficult questions about federal and state government. She answers correctly. He finally gives her one that nobody could answer, and her application is rejected. Dr. King meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson concerning black citizens not being allowed to register to vote. King tells Johnson that white registrars are illegally denying registration forms from the black community, and points out the senseless acts of violence against them. King then asks for federal legislation which would allow black citizens to register to vote unencumbered, but Johnson responds that he has more important things on his mind.
King travels to Selma with Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, James Orange, and Diane Nash. Reverend James Bevel comes to the car to greet
LSN, 3B
Mr. Isebor
1-29-2015
SELMA Summary In Selma we look back at the 1965 campaign by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to secure equal voting rights for African-American citizens. That political battle was waged in the deep south, where King organized marches from the town of Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in protest of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s hesitation on voting rights legislation.
Looking behind the curtain of history, we learn more about the political obstacles and negotiations King had to navigate in order to realize his agenda – including compromises within his own political, racial, and religious affiliations in order to achieve a greater good. Probing even deeper, we learn more about the toll that being an icon of Civil Rights took on Martin the man, his family and marriage. In 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King attend the ceremony in Oslo, Norway, where he accepts his Nobel Peace Prize. Four young girls are then shown walking down the inside steps of a church, talking. An explosion goes off, killing all four girls and injuring others. In Selma, Alabama, Annie Lee Cooper is shown filling out a form to become a registered voter. The white registrar asks her increasingly difficult questions about federal and state government. She answers correctly. He finally gives her one that nobody could answer, and her application is rejected. Dr. King meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson concerning black citizens not being allowed to register to vote. King tells Johnson that white registrars are illegally denying registration forms from the black community, and points out the senseless acts of violence against them. King then asks for federal legislation which would allow black citizens to register to vote unencumbered, but Johnson responds that he has more important things on his mind.
King travels to Selma with Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, James Orange, and Diane Nash. Reverend James Bevel comes to the car to greet