, where only 1% of eligible black voters were registered to vote. the violence, the march, the excitement all contributed to the passage of the second landmark civil rights act of the decade. even though there was horrendous violence, rev. king announced that as a "matter of conscience and in an attempt to arouse the deepest concern of the nation," he was "compelled" to lead another march from selma to montgomery, alabama. The four-day, 54-mile march started on the afternoon of sunday, march 21, 1965, with some 3500 marchers led by two nobel prizewinners, the rev. Martin luther king, jr. And ralph bunche, then u.n. Under secretary for special political affairs. in the march, whites, negroes, clergymen and beatniks, old and young, walked side by side. president johnson made sure they had plenty of protection this time with 1000 military police, 1900 federalized alabama national guardsmen, and platoons of u.s. Marshals and fbi men. When the marchers reached the capital of alabama, they were to have presented a petition to then governor george wallace protesting voting discrimination. however, when they arrived, the governor's aides came out and said, "the capital is closed today." About this same time, the term, "black power" was coming into use. it was meant to infer long-submerged racial pride in negroes. Martin Luther King Jr. Specifically sought to rebut the evangelists of black power. "It is absolutely necessary for the negro to gain power, but the term black power is unfortunate, because it tends to give the impression of black nationalism. we must never seek power exclusively for the negro, but the sharing of power with white people," he said. Unfortunately, the thing that really moved the civil rights movement along significantly was the murder of rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In late 1965. cruelty replaced harmony with nightmarish suddenness. rioting mobs in the negro suburb of watts, california, pillaged, burned and killed, while ...
