The March

In Atlanta, an infuriated Dr. King sent out telegrams to every prominent clergyman sympathetic to the SCLC, reading in part, "In the vicious maltreatment of defenseless citizens of Selma, where old women and young children were gassed and clubbed at random, we have witnessed an eruption of the disease of racism which seeks to destroy all America. No American is without responsibility.

The people of Selma will struggle on for the soul of the nation but it is fitting that all Americans help to bear the burden. I call therefore, on clergy of all faiths, to join me in Selma." Religious groups from around the country sent representatives, "nuns in flowing habits, rabbinical students in yarmulkes, white-collared clergy from every denomination," according to a later Detroit News story. Ordinary people horrified by the attacks went to Selma to add their voices to the cry for justice.

One who answered the call was a Detroit housewife, Viola Liuzzo, 40, wife of a Teamster official, and mother of five. AP Photo A group of Catholic nuns rests along the march route. King and the SCLC had won a court order allowing the march from Selma to Montgomery and directing the state to protect the marchers. However, the order limited the march to 300 people on a section of Highway 80 that was only two lanes wide. Gov. Wallace told the White House the state couldn't afford to pay the cost of mobilizing the National Guard for the march, giving President Johnson the opportunity he was looking for.

He federalized 1,900 of Alabama's National Guard, authorized use of 2,000 regular army troops, as well as 200 FBI agents and U.S. marshals to protect the march. The Selma-Montgomery march started on March 21, the marchers camping at night wherever they could. Finally they arrived in Montgomery on March 24. Fager describes the dramatic scene: "As they neared Montgomery, the road widened, ending the 300 limitation and all through the afternoon cars and buses stopped along the line and discharged new marchers. There were thousands of them, exuberant and noisy, carrying banners and placards....When they arrived at the final campsite, the march was like a tide coming in, inevitable and relentless, inundating everything."

Mrs. Luizzo watched the march move on to the Capitol on Thursday, March 25.She had spent the past week in Selma, working at the hospitality desk in Browen Chapel, using her green Oldsmobile to ferry people back and forth to Montgomery's airport. She had driven to Montgomery the night before to join the last leg of the march. She helped in the first aid station with the worn out marchers or those who had fainted from heat and exertion. She and Fr. Tim Deasy climbed a tower to view the marchers.

The line stretched out, filling the street completely with no end in sight, heading toward the Capitol. She told him she had a premonition. "Something is going to happen today, I feel it. Somebody is going to get killed..." She repeated her premonition to another priest and group of nuns. All the important civil rights fighters were there -- Dr. King, John Lewis of SNCC, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Whitney Young of the Urban League, Philip Randolph, Ralph Bunche, Bayard Rustin, Rosa Parks and others.

The Montgomery County Mounted Posse wades into the marchers swinging batons. One deputy at left is swinging a cane. King delivered his speech, "How long will it take? . . . Not long, because mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord..." King tried to deliver a petition for full voting rights to Gov. Wallace but troopers kept him out of the Capitol building. The governor's secretary came out and took it.