Lesson updated in March 2025:
WATCH: Harris marks 59th anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’ at Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
Subjects
Social studies, English, Film
Estimated time
One 50-minute class period
Grade level
Middle or High School
Introduction
Students will learn about the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery during the Civil Rights Movement. They will examine the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and watch clips from the movie "Selma". Most importantly, students will think critically about sources of information.
Warm-up activity
Pass out this HANDOUT with background on the Selma to Montgomery Marches.
- The right to vote was first guaranteed to black men in 1870 with the passage of the 15th Amendment. But for nearly 100 years after, that right was systematically obstructed in many places across the nation.
- Even now, voting rights remain contentious, with portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 having been struck down (NewsHour video here) by the Supreme Court in 2013, and new voter ID laws sparking heated debate over the impact on voter participation.
Optional: You may also want to have students explore more of the history of the marches in the Extension activities section below.
Main activity
- Explain to students that they are going to watch three short videos, analyze the content and think critically about the intended audiences for each different video.
- Return to the HANDOUT's second page and answer the discussion questions on the marches of 1965. Be sure to give students enough time to write down their thoughts and space to express their ideas on what they are seeing.
Video | Selma — trailer | Paramount Pictures
Video | The Most Powerful Instrument | PBS ' Finding Your Roots
Video: here
Video | The Story of Bloody Sunday| The History Channel
Extension activities
- What is SNCC? The national civil rights group, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (known as SNCC), started organizing in the area in 1963, but faced considerable resistance, particularly from segregationist Sheriff Jim Clark who utilized local posses to intimidate, arrest and flat-out beat up those engaged in voter drives. In January of 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (a group of ministers leading nonviolent boycotts, marches and sit-ins to protest segregation across the South) arrived in Selma to assist the growing movement.
- Literacy and Civics Tests : Alabama was a flashpoint for civil rights battles. Throughout the state, Black citizens applying to vote were repeatedly blocked by local registrars — known to give impromptu literacy and civics tests (literacy test lesson) featuring absurdly difficult questions designed to fail all takers. Watch the following clips from the movie "Selma" on what the right to vote meant and what it was like trying to register to vote.
Furthermore, widespread poll taxes discouraged the poor and penalized those who chose to vote even if they succeeded in getting registered. By 1965, there were counties in Alabama where not a single black person had voted in any election for the previous 50 years.
In Selma, Alabama, where only 130 of 15,000 Black citizens were registered, citizens continued their long fight against institutionalized racism. Watch the "Give us the vote" and "Join us" clips here:
"Selma" video clips courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Lesson originally published in 2016 by Katie Gould, PBS NewsHour teacher resource producer.
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