Selma

Images of America: Alabama

by Sharon J. Jackson

On April 2, 1865, one of the last battles of the Civil War destroyed nearly three-fourths of Selma and effected tremendous change in the lives of its people. At the war’s beginning, Selma became a transportation center and one of the main manufacturing centers supporting the South’s war effort. Its foundries produced much-needed supplies and munitions, and its naval yard constructed Confederate warships. A century later, Selma again became the scene of a dramatic struggle when it served as the focal point of the voting-rights movement. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, approximately 600 marchers set out from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church on US Highway 80, headed for Montgomery to petition the state legislature for reforms in the voter-registration process. They were met six blocks outside of town at the Edmund Pettus Bridge by state and local law enforcement and were turned back with Billy clubs and tear gas—the day became known as “Bloody Sunday.” On March 25, after much discussion and a court injunction, some 25,000 marchers finally crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on their way to Montgomery.

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2014

Reviews

[Stephen]

Selma, for most, is an image of violence, the site of State troopers laying into peaceable marchers with clubs and gas. It is tied forever to the Civil Rights movement, but long before it was caught up in a national movement, Selma had its own proud history. Sited high on a bluff overlooking the Alabama river, throughout the 19th century Selma was a center of agriculture, industry, and commerce, the river and railroads drawing traffic towards it. Sharon Jackson is a Selma resident who retired here with her husband and helped revive the local movie theater, and the history given here is a genuine labor of love. Like other "Images of America" books, the content is primarily photographs, the captions of which tell the story. Jackson's offering is impressive, drawing from publicly-available images as well as private family photos from local residents, guaranteeing new sights for even local history experts. For Selma residents, this is something of a family album; even people whose descendants have moved on from Selma are remembered in the names of the streets of the city, and the institutions they left behind. Selma is a truly beautiful town, lovingly crafted by generations of settlers and immigrants: even as some buildings are lost to fire, the ravages of time, and that Moloch called progress, Selma has retained one of the largest historical districts in the nation. To walk among some of its Old Town streets is to feel like a Goth in the ancient ruins of Rome; what men were these, to build such beauty? This is primarily a history of the city's people, however, and although local stories take precedent, Jackson also connects her narrative to national movements like women's suffrage. Civil Rights, of course, is considered in detail, for Selma's history had a dark side as well. All those who immigrated there did not come willingly, like the Jewish community whose shops filled Broad Street: that early agricultural boon was based on a massive population of people held in slavery, whose ancestors were restrained still longer by Jim Crow laws and the economics of sharecropping. The story of those who fought for their rights in the streets of Selma in '65 is told in full, but happily Jackson's work remains a tribute to Selma as a place lived in and loved -- not contested over.

[Lesley Looper]

I really enjoyed this book! In addition to the Selma history many are aware of, Sharon Jackson included a number of interesting anecdotes and photos about Selma's history. One of the things I enjoyed learning was that Selma used to have a minor league baseball team, the Selma Cloverleafs.