We must remember Jimmie Lee Jackson. He is a critical force in our history. He is a key reason we celebrate and commemorate the Bridge Crossing Jubilee. Let me tell you about Jimmie Lee Jackson. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
It was February 18, 1965. Rev. James of Orange of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was in the Perry County Jail in Marion, Alabama. The word was out that the Ku Klux Klan intended to get him out of jail late at night and murder him. The local voting rights movement leaders called a night mass meeting and a rare night march. Marches were very dangerous in the daytime and even more dangerous at night. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
When the mass meeting ended, the people left the church to march to the Perry County Jail, where they intended to spend the whole night in a vigil to save the life of Rev. James Orange. All of a sudden, the lights in the city went out. The city went dark. Alabama State Troopers, local law enforcement, and other deputized men began beating Black people at random in the dark. People began to run. Jimmie Lee’s mother, Viola Jackson, and grandfather, Cager Lee, who was 80 years old, ran to Mack’s Cafe. By pre-arrangement, Jimmie Lee was waiting there to take them home. The State Troopers followed Viola and Cager into Mack’s Cafe, beating both of them without mercy. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
Jimmie Lee Jackson was a father, a deacon in his church, a military veteran, and active in the struggle for voting rights in Perry County, Alabama. He did some logging and farming. He was 26 years old. On that night, February 18, 1965, he tried to take his bleeding mother and grandfather to get medical attention. A State Trooper shot him in the stomach. He began to run, and eight other State Troopers beat him as he ran. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
Jimmie Lee did not die that night. He was taken 30 miles to Selma, Alabama to the Good Samaritan Hospital where Black folks could receive medical treatment. He died eight days later. His brutal shooting, beating, and death greatly impacted the people of Perry County. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached at his funeral, calling Jimmie Lee Jackson “a martyred hero of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity.” We must remember Jimmie Lee.
Some people decided to take Jimmie Lee’s body, march to Montgomery, and deliver his body to Gov. George Wallace. However, they eventually decided to drive to Selma and march the 50 miles from Selma to Montgomery, rather than the 80 miles from Marion to Montgomery. They also ultimately decided not to carry Jimmie Lee’s body with them as they marched because it had decomposed. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
On Sunday, March 7, 1965, about 600 marchers left Brown Chapel AME Church heading to Montgomery. Most marchers were from Perry County. The march was organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, but Dr. King could not be present that Sunday. Many of us think the march was just about the right to vote. In fact, this march was first about the murder of Jimmie Lee and the beating of others, including his mother and grandfather. Of course, it was also about the right to vote because Jimmie Lee as well as his mother and grandfather and so many more were struggling for the right to vote. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
The 600 marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which is named after the Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan and was also a former Confederate officer and U.S Senator. A sea of State Troopers, local law enforcement officers, and other deputized males were waiting. They brutally beat the marchers so that many were bloody and some were knocked unconscious. The brutal beatings were caught on television and aired over and over nationwide. The street poets immediately dubbed these violent happenings as “Bloody Sunday” because so much blood was shed and this happened on a Sunday. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
Dr. King, the leader of the SCLC, came to Selma the next day. In fact, he may have come that Sunday night. On that Monday, he put out a national call for ministers and other persons of conscience to come to Selma to stand against the violence that had taken Jimmie Lee’s life and inflicted brutal injuries on many others. Among those who came was another Jimmy – the Rev. James Reeb, a White Unitarian minister, husband, and father of four from Boston and Washington, D.C. who was active in the Civil Rights Movement. He was brutally beaten by white supremacists with heavy clubs in Selma on March 9, 1965. He died two days later on March 11, 1965. He was 38 years old. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
There was a second march, two days after Bloody Sunday, which was led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. By a pre-planned understanding, the marchers turned around after they crossed the bridge because State Troopers and other law enforcement officers engaged them. They returned to Brown Chapel. The street poets immediately dubbed this day as “Turnaround Tuesday.” We must remember Jimmie Lee.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson made his famous “We Shall Overcome” speech to the U.S. Congress on March 15, 1965. It moved the nation as he called upon Congress to act and pass the voting rights legislation that was introduced in the wake of Bloody Sunday. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
SCLC leaders and others were still determined to march from Selma to Montgomery. However, a temporary restraining order had been issued by U.S. District Judge Frank Johnson against Dr. King, SCLC, and others prohibiting a march from Selma to Montgomery until the Court could have a full hearing on the matter. Judge Johnson soon heard the full case and issued an order on March 17 of 1965 allowing the full Selma to Montgomery March to proceed. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
On March 21, 1965, the Selma to Montgomery March commenced. Some 3,000 persons began marching initially. However, about three miles out of Selma, all but 300 had to turn around pursuant to Judge Johnson’s court order. The reasons were because the then four-lane highway became two lanes as well as for security purposes. Three-hundred marchers were the most who could proceed with safety and security. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
The five-day Selma to Montgomery March ended in Montgomery on March 25, 1965. The night before, many nationally known entertainers and other artists performed at the City of St. Jude in Montgomery. By the time the March reached the steps of the Alabama State Capitol, the crowd was estimated at up to 35,000. Dr. King made his famous “How Long, Not Long?” speech. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
As some of the Marchers were being transported back to Selma, some Klansmen, including an FBI informant, shot from their car, struck, and murdered Viola Liuzzo in her car. Viola Liuzzo was a 39-year-old White wife from Detroit, mother of five, and civil rights activist when she was murdered. Nineteen-year-old African American Leroy Moton, who was in the car with her to help transport Marchers, pretended to be dead in order to survive. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
Congress passed the 1965 Voting Rights Act in early August, and President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the legislation into law on August 6, 1965. Many scholars consider this piece of legislation to be the most effective civil rights law ever enacted. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
The Voting Rights Movement was fought for years across the entire Southern United States of America. However, the movement came to a head in Marion and Selma, resulting in the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Movement never would have come to such a powerful head without the life and death of Jimmie Lee Jackson. Yet, most people outside of Perry County have never heard of Jimmie Lee Jackson. We must remember Jimmie Lee.
EPILOGUE – History is not just what happened at a particular time. It is that which made a unique impact and is remembered. If people do not remember, it ceases to be history. We must remember Jimmie Lee Jackson.
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