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Presented by the Zinn Education Project
A Collaboration between Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change
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 Ten Things You Should Know About Selma Before You See the Film
By Emilye Crosby, professor of history at SUNY Geneseo and editor of Civil Rights History from the Ground Up
 In this 50th anniversary year of the Selma-to-Montgomery March and the Voting Rights Act it helped inspire, national media will focus on the iconic images of "Bloody Sunday," the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the interracial marchers, and President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act. This version of history, emphasizing a top-down narrative and isolated events, reinforces the master narrative that civil rights activists describe as "Rosa sat down, Martin stood up, and the white folks came south to save the day."
But there is a "people's history" of Selma that we all can learn from ----one that is needed especially now. Here are 10 points to keep in mind about Selma's civil rights history. Continue reading.
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On the Road to Voting Rights: Freedom Day in Selma, 1963
By Howard Zinn
SNCC had declared October 7 as Freedom Day. The idea was to bring hundreds of people to register to vote, hoping that their numbers would decrease fear. And there was much to fear. John Lewis and seven others were still in jail. Sheriff Jim Clark, huge and bullying, had deputized a force that was armed and on the prowl. To build up courage, people gathered in churches night after night before Freedom Day. The churches were packed as people listened to speeches, prayed, sang. Continue reading.
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