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Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for March 7, 2019

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By Scott Rasmussen

The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

March 7, 2019: Fifty-four years ago today, state and local police officers attacked 600 civil rights marchers with billy clubs and tear gas on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The brutality—broadcast worldwide with the then-new technology of television—shocked the nation, and the day became known as Bloody Sunday.[1]

Within two weeks, Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders sought and obtained court protection for another march. On March 21, more than 3,000 people set off from Selma to Montgomery. They marched for four straight days, sleeping along the way, and the crowd kept growing. When they finally arrived in the state capital, more than 25,000 people had joined the protest.[2]

Five months later, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.


Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.


Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day is published by Ballotpedia weekdays at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Click here to check out the latest update.

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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

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