Bloody Sunday-Local Groundswell in Selma, Alabama Remembered

On Wednesday, Civil Rights Leader Bob Mants, who lead the march from Selma to Montgomery protesting for equal voting rights, died of a severe heart attack at age 68. Mants, a member of SNCC, lead the 1965 march across Alabama with U.S. Representative John Lewis of Atlanta, and two members of the SCLC. The four men led an estimated 600 African Americans in a non-violent march where they were faced with the violence of Alabama state troopers who were waiting for the marchers on the other side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Described by Lewis as, “committed and dedicated, a real fighter for civil rights and social justice,” Mants, along with the other marchers courageously marched directly into Alabama state troopers and county sheriff’s deputies, “who brandished clubs, tear gas and cattle prods.” This day would become known as Bloody Sunday due to the great violence faced by the 600 African American marchers on the other side of the bridge.

(http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201112080400/NEWS02/112080324)

As discussed in class, the philosophy of non-violence was so much more than deciding not to use violence when confronted with violence. In the local example of Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the marchers faced horrific brutality and maintained the non-violent strategy, “to redeem the soul of America.” Moving away from IàIt to IàThou, these marchers, along with all other practicers of non-violence, were in no way cowards and had the great strength to maintain their philosophy in the face of violence. While the master narrative of Civil Rights tends to downplay the level of violence seen throughout the United States, local examples serve to emphasis that this violence did not elevate out of nowhere—the violence was ever-present. By entering the Deep South, the marchers were bringing down the floor of the status-quo and asserting their voting rights. The marchers were able to use the image portrayed by non-violence, juxtaposing their respectable and dignified behavior to the violent Alabama state troopers with their tear gas and clubs. Five months after this march, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be passed.

Bob Mants was originally hesitant to give an interview about his experiences throughout the Civil Rights Movement, specifically the Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Eventually he would give a few details, however, most of the account comes from other participants in the march. With the sudden death of 68 year old Mants, a great amount of history dies with him. While the memories of Civil Rights struggles are almost always painful, without recording them, history is lost, especially when the history fills in the holes of the master narrative. Luckily, other marchers, specifically John Lewis have been able to fill us in to the legacy of Bob Mants and how their locally organized groundswell contributed to national opinions and legislation.