Today is the 48th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s How Long? Not Long! speech.
The Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, march in 1965 which included Bloody Sunday, ended with this speech in Montgomery.
It took 3 attempts to make that march.
They tried the first time on March 7, 1965, known as Bloody Sunday, and were met with extreme violence when they crossed the Edmund Petus Bridge. They faced fire hoses and police beatings with night sticks. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), in his early 20′s then, was beaten severely and sustained a skull fracture among many other injuries, of which he still bears the scars.
They tried again the second time on March 9, but they were stopped by a court order. Dr. King and his supporters marched to the Edmund Petus Bridge in Selma, where they stopped, held a brief prayer meeting, and dispersed so they wouldn’t violate the court order.
On the third try, on March 25, 1965, they succeeded. They marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, the state capitol, where Dr. King delivered the How Long? Not Long! speech:
The following quotes are timeless:
Because truth crushed to earth will rise again.
Because no lie can live forever.
Because you shall reap what you sew.
Because the ark of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
Photo credit: National Geographic
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