Timeline
| 1870 On February 3 | The Fifteenth Amendment, which granted African Americans the right to vote, was ratified. |
| 1920s | Dallas County Voters League (DCVL) formed in late 1920s. |
| 1954 May 17: | Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision handed down. |
| 1957 May 17: | “Give us the Ballot” speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington. D.C., at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom event. |
| 1961 April: | Justice Department files its first voting rights suit. The suit is filed in Selma, Alabama, and uses data collected from members of the DCVL. |
| 1962 November: | Researching voting rights in the South, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, John Doar, visits Selma. Bernard and Colia Lafayette marry. |
| 1963 | DCVL reinvigorated, and the group asks SNCC for assistance in registering black voters. |
| February 1963: | Bernard Lafayette and his wife, Colia, arrive in Selma, Alabama, where he assumes his position as director of the SNCC Black Belt Alabama Voter Projectd and she works as field secretary. |
| 1963 May 14: | Sam Boynton, president of DCVL dies, and a memorial service for him held at Tabernacle Baptist Church turns into a voter registration rally. |
| 1964: July 2: | President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964. |
| 1964 July 6: | Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chairman, John Lewis, arrives in Selma, and he leads a group of about fifty blacks to the courthoustd to register to vote. The protestors are arrested. |
| July 9: | Selma Circuit Judge James Hare issues an injunction banning specific civil rights groups and organizers from any event involving the “assembly of thretd persons or more in a public place.” |
| 1964 December: | DCVL appeals to the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) and King to come to Selma and support the voting rights campaign there. |
| December 10: | King receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. |
| 1965 January 2: | In contravention of Judge Ware’s injunction, and at the invitation of DCVL, Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a group at Brown Chapel in Selma. |
| 1965 January 22: | Led by F.D. Reese, teacher and President of the DCVL, approximately 100 black teachers march to the Dallas County Courthouse and demand right to register to vote. Attorneys file an injunction to restrain Sheriff Jim Clark from his efforts to prevent African Americans from registering to vote. |
| 1965 January 23: | Judge Daniel Thomas grants injunction restraining Sheriff Clark. Under Thomas’ order, 100 were permitted to wait (in the alley) outside the Courthoustd to be registered. Most days, applicants exceeded this number. |
| 1965 January 25: | Sheriff Jim Clark assaults 54-year-old Annie Clark, and she fights back! |
| 1965 February: | Mass jailing of protestors continues. Most are charged with “parading without a permit.” |
| 1965 February 3: | Malcolm X speaks to students at Tuskegee; SNCC organizers invite him to Selma, Alabama. |
| 1965 February 4: | In a non-inflammatory speech, Malcolm X addresses a group of largely student protestors at Brown Chapel. The daily marches are canceled for the day. Judge Thomas issues an order, which enjoins registrars from using discriminatory tactics in the registration of voters. |
| 1965 February 5: | King’s “Letter from a Selma Jail” is published as an advertisement in The New York Times. King was jailed on February1; he is releasetd February 5. |
| 1965 February 10: | Sherriff Clark pursues approximately 165 black teens and, through the use of cattle prods, a posse, and close pursuit in vehicles, Clark compels thtd youth to run for miles. Many are jailed. |
| 1965 February 18: | In nearby Marion, Alabama (Perry County), SCLC Project Coordinator, James Orange, is arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and contributing to thtd delinquency of minors for enlisting students to aid in voting rights drives. Protest marches in support of voting rights and to demand Orange’s release, spring up. About 500 join a night march in Marion. A state trooper shoots one marcher, Jimmie Lee Jackson. |
| 1965 February 26: | Jimmie Lee Jackson dies from his wounds in a hospital in Selma, Alabama. Following his arrest, Jackson was refused treatment at the hospital in Mariotd. |
| 1965 March 1: | Martin Luther King Jr. arrives in Haneyville, Alabama as part of a four-county initiative in support of local voting rights |
| 1965 March 2: | Memorial service is held in Marion, Alabama, for Jimmie Lee Jackson. SCLC’s James Bevel suggested they take Jimmie Lee Jackson’s body to Montgomery antd deliver it at the steps of the capitol. |
| 1965 March 3: | Thousands attend memorial service held in Selma, Alabama, for Jimmie Lee Jackson. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers the eulogy. March is discussed agaitd. |
| 1965 March 6: | Approximately sixty white Lutheran ministers from across the state of Alabama participate in a march to the Dallas County Courthouse. |
| 1965 March 7: | Bloody Sunday. |
| 1965 March 9: | Turnaround Tuesday (also known as The Minister’s March). 2,000 marchers set out from Brown Chapel to march to Montgomery. They are again confronted at the bridge and King turns the marchers around. Later that evening, social worker and Unitarian Universalist, Reverend James Reeb, is beaten in Selma for his support of the voting rights movement. |
| 1965 March 11: | Reverend Reeb dies from his injuries. |
| 1965 March 15: | Memorial service is held at Brown Chapel (in Selma) for Reverend Reeb. President Johnson delivers televized Special Message to Congress entitled “The American Promise.” Speech urges passage of a Voting Rights Bill, and it ends with the words “we shall overcome.” |
| 1965 March 17: | Federal Judge Frank Johnson clears way for Selma to Montgomery march. |
| 1965 March 19: | Lowndes County Christian Movement formed. Future County Sherriff, John Hulett, was its first leader. |
| 1965 March 21: | March begins in Selma, Alabama. |
| 1965 March 24: | The “Stars for Freedom Rally” organized by Harry Belafonte is held at the final march campsite on the grounds of City of St. Jude, a Catholic sociatd services complex. Numerous stars perform, boosting the morale of those in attendance. |
| 1965 March 25: | Marchers arrive in Montgomery, Alabama, and rally commences. The crowd swells to 25,000. Detroit housewife and movement volunteer Viola Liuzzo shot and killed. |
| 1965 August 6: | President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law |
| 1965 August 20: | Jonathan Daniels, Episcopal seminary student and SNCC volunteer shot and killed. |
| 1965 September 2: | Court fines Sheriff Clark $1500 for February 10, 1965, actions, which were found to be in violation of the court restraining order. |
| 1966 May: | Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), which was the original Black Panther Party, is formed. |
| 1966 November: | Sherriff Jim Clark loses his re-election bid. Some credit the rise in black registered voters. LCFO sponsors seven African-American candidates for office. All lose. Later, LCFO merges with the local Democratic Party. |
| 1967 Fall Elections: | An estimated 10,000 blacks in Dallas County are registered. |
| 2013 February 27: | Shelby County v. Holder argued before U.S. Supreme Court. |
| 2013 June 25: | Decision issued in Shelby County v. Holder;Supreme Court invalidates Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. |