[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 3088-3089]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       REMEMBERING THE 1965 MARCH ACROSS THE EDMUND PETTUS BRIDGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cantor). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues, I rise today 
to pay tribute to the brave and courageous men and women and a few 
young children that attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery 36 
years ago today, March 7, 1965.
  Just think, Mr. Speaker, 36 years ago, in many parts of the American 
South, 11 States of the Old Confederacy, from Virginia to Texas it was 
almost impossible for people of color to register to vote. As a matter 
of fact, in a State like the State of Mississippi, in 1965 the State 
had a black voting-age population of more than 450,000 and only about 
16,000 blacks were registered to vote. There was one county in Alabama, 
between Selma and Montgomery, Lowndes County, where the county was more 
than 80 percent African American; yet there was not a single registered 
African American voter in the county. In the little county of Selma, 
only 2.1 percent of blacks of voting age were registered to vote.
  People of color not only had to pay a poll tax, they had to pass a 
so-called literacy test. Interpreting sections of the Constitution of 
the United States, the constitution of the State of Alabama, the 
constitution of the State of Georgia and the State of Mississippi, 
there were black men and women teaching in colleges and universities, 
black lawyers and black doctors being told they could not read or write 
well enough. On one occasion, a black man had a Ph.D. degree in 
philosophical theology and he flunked a so-called literacy test. On 
another occasion, a man was asked to give the number of bubbles in a 
bar of soap.
  The drive, the movement for the right to vote came to a head in 
Selma, Alabama. For many months people had gone down to the courthouse 
to be turned back. They were arrested. Some were jailed. On March 7, 
1965, about 600 black men and women, and a few young children, 
attempted to march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, to the State 
capital, to dramatize to the Nation and to the world that people of 
color wanted to register to vote. They were beaten with night sticks, 
bull whips, trampled by horses, and tear gassed.
  That day became known as Bloody Sunday. There was a sense of 
righteous indignation all across America when people saw what happened 
to these 600 men and women and young children in Selma. Eight days 
later, after what became known as Bloody Sunday, President Johnson came 
to this hall and spoke to a joint session of the Congress, and he 
started that speech off on March 15, 1965, by saying: ``I speak tonight 
for the dignity of man and for the destiny of democracy.'' President 
Johnson went on to say: ``At times, history and fate come together to 
shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was 
more than a century ago at Lexington and at Concord. So it was at 
Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.''
  And in that speech on March 15, 1965, President Johnson condemned the 
violence in Selma, introduced the Voting Rights Act; and before he 
closed that speech he said over and over again: ``And we shall 
overcome.'' The Congress passed the Voting Rights Act,

[[Page 3089]]

and it was signed into law on August 6, 1965, 36 years ago.
  Because of the courage of these men and women and these young 
children, Mr. Speaker, we have witnessed a nonviolent revolution in 
America, a revolution of values, a revolution of ideas. Because of this 
march, because of this attempted march, we are on our way toward the 
building of what I like to call the ``beloved community,'' toward the 
building of a truly interracial democracy. By marching, by standing up, 
these young men and women, these young children, on March 7, 1965, and 
the Members of Congress back in 1965, helped to expand our democracy, 
helped to open up the democratic process and let hundreds of thousands 
and millions of our citizens come in.
  We live in a better country. We live in a better place because a few 
men and women and a few young children got in, what I call, the way to 
make America different, to make America better. Today, Mr. Speaker, I 
stand here to salute these brave men and women, men and women, with 
courage, who dared to sail against the wind on March 7, 1965.

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