words of the Movement: “we shall overcome”. Over the next decade, the number
of registered African-Americans increased exponentially.
King speaking in front of 25,000 civil rights marchers, at the conclusion of the
Selma to Montgomery march in front of Alabama state capital building on 25 th
March, 1965.
The significance of the march for the American people was neatly summarised by President Obama, speaking from the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50 th
Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” this year. As the first African-American
President of the United States, it is clear he himself serves as an example of the
ultimate victory of the events in Selma. He said that “there are places and
moments in America where this nation’s destiny has been decided...Selma is such
a place.” He also envisions Selma as “part of a broader campaign” in that there
appears no “greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this.” He
also describes the march as “the manifestation of a creed written into our founding
documents”, going on to quote the Constitution. Upon addressing the attitudes of
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