Because They Marched: Chapter 3

Keeping a low profile, Bernard and Colia Lafayette walked the unpaved streets of Selma’s black neighborhood, knocked on people’s doors and went from one sharecropper’s house to the next out in the countryside, talking to folks about their rights as citizens.

Blacks who tried to register faced threats, harassment and loss of their jobs.

His example was seen as “a turning point in terms of public sympathy in Selma,” said Chestnut. “Even the blacks who were most apprehensive about him couldn’t help but respect his commitment and courage.”

Lafayette’s reputation in the black community was raised another notch when he went to court to fight his arrest and jailing on a false charge of vagrancy.

Since he was gainfully employed by SNCC, had no outstanding debts and had plenty of cash in his wallet when arrested, the charge was groundless and, after a trial, had to be dropped.

Since he was gainfully employed by SNCC, had no outstanding debts and had plenty of cash in his wallet when arrested, the charge was groundless and, after a trial, had to be dropped.

Despite the improper arrest, the brutal beating and constant surveillance, the Lafayettes continued to hold voter clinics.

When additional SNCC workers arrived in Selma to join them, a local judge denounced them all as “Communist agitators.”

When additional SNCC workers arrived in Selma to join them, a local judge denounced them all as “Communist agitators.”

When additional SNCC workers arrived in Selma to join them, a local judge denounced them all as “Communist agitators.”

And when they held a protest at the courthouse, holding cardboard placards that read “Register To Vote” and “Register Now for Freedom Now,” Sheriff Clark arrested them on the courthouse steps, cheered on by white bystanders shouting, “Get ’em, Big Jim! Get ’em!”

And when they held a protest at the courthouse, holding cardboard placards that read “Register To Vote” and “Register Now for Freedom Now,” Sheriff Clark arrested them on the courthouse steps, cheered on by white bystanders shouting, “Get ’em, Big Jim! Get ’em!”

SNCC workers offered to train the students in tactics of nonviolent protest and resistance, teaching them how to organize marches and demonstrations and how to respond if they were arrested or attacked: “If you’re beaten on, crouch and put your hands over the back of your head,” demonstrators were advised. “Don’t put up your arm to ward off a blow. If you fall, fall right down and look dead....And listen! If you can’t be nonviolent, let me know now.”

“The students, the sons and daughters of older black residents, started the political and social unrest in Selma,” recalled Annie Lee Cooper.

“It seemed like the young people were more fed up with the local situation than were the black adults,” he recalled.

Students joined the demonstrations in growing numbers, cutting classes so they could appear at that day’s assigned meeting place. Algebra gave way to activism. Many of their teachers seemed sympathetic.

“There were a couple of hundred of us crammed into the little courtroom who had not had any water on their bodies for seven days,” recalled Thomas.

The authorities’ tough tactics backfired.

Rather than cowing the students into submission, the arrests stiffened their resolve, and they returned to the streets with renewed conviction.

Rather than cowing the students into submission, the arrests stiffened their resolve, and they returned to the streets with renewed conviction.

Rather than cowing the students into submission, the arrests stiffened their resolve, and they returned to the streets with renewed conviction.

“We considered taking a stand, being arrested and going to jail to be an event that instilled the utmost pride,” one student demonstrator explained.

Students came to the pulpit to tell of their experiences as demonstrators, while speakers from black churches around Dallas County urged adults in the audience to follow the students’ example and get involved.

After those arrests, a local circuit court judge, James A. Hare, issued an injunction forbidding public gatherings of more than three people.

Judge Hare was an outspoken segregationist who compared the voting rights demonstrators to terrorists.

“If these unsanitary, unbathed ruffians think we are going to lie down and give Selma over to them, they have another thought coming! I am not going to sit idly by while they destroy this city.”

“If these unsanitary, unbathed ruffians think we are going to lie down and give Selma over to them, they have another thought coming! I am not going to sit idly by while they destroy this city.”

Marchers and demonstrators would be marched directly to jail. Protest activity in Selma came to a standstill.

King had gained national prominence during the Montgomery bus boycott a decade earlier.

And his efforts had helped convince the U.S. Congress to pass the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in public accommodations such as restaurants, theaters and hotels, in government, and in employment.