Civil Rights 50 Years Later: Remembering March On Montgomery
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Over two weeks, WCBS 880′s Wayne Cabot is taking a look at the law and its impact on the decades that follow.
It is all part of the event CBS News 50 Years Later – Civil Rights, powered by Microsoft Bing Pulse.
In 1965, despite the law, blacks still could not vote in much of the South. Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot by an Alabama state trooper, died eight days later.
His death sparked the march on Montgomery, Alabama. Tens of thousands of people joined the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. over eight days and 54 miles. Some were tear-gassed and beaten with the blessing of Gov. George Wallace.
But their actions gave birth to the Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
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