In 1965, civil rights activists including Martin Luther King, Jr. organized several protests to fight for the protection of voting rights for African-Americans, including a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery. The protests were met with extreme police violence. That year, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which banned practices and laws aimed at preventing African-Americans from voting.
Voting Rights Protests of 1965 (Selma-to-Montgomery Marches) Quotes in Just Mercy
The Just Mercy quotes below are all either spoken by Voting Rights Protests of 1965 (Selma-to-Montgomery Marches) or refer to Voting Rights Protests of 1965 (Selma-to-Montgomery Marches). For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
“You see this scar on the top of my head?” He tilted his head to show me. “I got that scar in Greene County, Alabama trying to register to vote in 1964. You see this scar on the side of my head? […] I got that scar in Mississippi demanding civil rights. […] These aren’t my scars, cuts and bruises. These are my medals of honor.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9
Quotes
In that moment, I felt something peculiar. A deep sense of recognition. I smiled now, because I knew she was saying to the room, “I may be old, I may be poor, I may be black, but I’m here. I’m here because I’ve got this vision of justice that compels me to be a witness. I’m here because I’m supposed to be here. I’m here because you can’t keep me away.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Just Mercy LitChart as a printable PDF.
Voting Rights Protests of 1965 (Selma-to-Montgomery Marches) Term Timeline in Just Mercy
The timeline below shows where the term Voting Rights Protests of 1965 (Selma-to-Montgomery Marches) appears in Just Mercy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9: I’m Here
...who explains that she was beat by police and attacked by police dogs during the Voting Rights protests of 1965 in Selma.
(full context)
