Freedom Fighters: Activists Behind the Selma Marches

The courageous people who played a role in the movement.

James Forman - Not everyone who was involved in the Selma demonstrations believed in taking a passive approach to fighting the plight of African-Americans. SNCC leader James Forman had been against King's march to Montgomery and believed in taking more aggressive actions. He encouraged local leaders in Montgomery to be vocal in expressing their disgust with the way African-Americans were being treated. He promoted a "revolutionary Black nationalist consciousness" as he continued working with SNCC and the Black Panther Party into the 1960s. In 1969, he began calling for reparations for Black Americans.(Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS)
Annie Lee Cooper - Annie Lee Cooper became known worldwide in 1965 when she punched Sheriff Jim Clark after standing in line for hours to register to vote. She was arrested and detained for several hours. Cooper died in 2010 at the age of 100. (Photo: Advertiser file)
James Orange - James Orange was an aide to Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. His arrest for organizing voting rights drive in Alabama in 1965 is one of the catalysts for the Selma-to-Montgomery march. (Photo: AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Renee' Hannans)
Richie Jean Jackson - When MLK and his wife Coretta Scott King needed a place to stay during their plans to march, Richie Jean Jackson of Selma opened her doors to the organizers. She and her husband were close friends with the Kings, according to Alabamanews.net. Up until her death, she kept artifacts from the civil rights movement in the home as memories of the individuals who pushed for equality and justice. Jackson told her story in the book The House by the Side of the Road. In 2013, Jackson died at the age of 81 in Atlanta.    (Photo: Lara Solt/Dallas Morning News/Corbis)

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Annie Lee Cooper - Annie Lee Cooper became known worldwide in 1965 when she punched Sheriff Jim Clark after standing in line for hours to register to vote. She was arrested and detained for several hours. Cooper died in 2010 at the age of 100. (Photo: Advertiser file)

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