VISUAL ACTIVITY Selma March The fifty-four-mile voting rights march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital, Montgomery, gained national attention because of the violent reaction to the marchers from onlookers and state officials. The protest helped get the 1965 Voting Rights Act through Congress, a measure that eventually rewrote politics in the South. © Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos. READING THE IMAGE: Why do you think the young boy lowered the flag to cover his body? What do the presence of the priest in the background and the signs behind him reflect about the breadth of the black freedom struggle? CONNECTIONS: How was this protest like and different from other civil rights protests during the 1960s?