Selma to Montgomery marches

===Hammermill boycott===
During 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. was promoting an economic boycott of Alabama products to put pressure on the State to integrate schools and employment.<ref>Fredrick, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jsEDAAAAMBAJ&q=Hammermill_Paper_Boycott&pg=PA46 ''Stand Up for Alabama''], p. 126.</ref> In an action under development for some time, the [[Hammermill Paper Company]] announced the opening of a major plant in Selma, Alabama; this came during the height of violence in early 1965.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2211&dat=19651211&id=0-QmAAAAIBAJ&pg=6603,5548256|title=The Afro American |via= Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref> On February 4, 1965, the company announced plans for construction of a $35 million plant, allegedly touting the "fine reports the company had received about the character of the community and its people".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.crmvet.org/docs/sv/sv650326.pdf|title=Student Voice.}}</ref>

On March 26, 1965, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee called for a national boycott of Hammermill paper products, until the company reversed what SNCC described as racist policies. The SCLC joined in support of the boycott.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jsEDAAAAMBAJ&q=Hammermill_Paper_Boycott&pg=PA46 Negro Boycott of Hammermill]. ''Jet'', May 27, 1965.</ref> In cooperation with SCLC, student members of [[Oberlin College]] Action for Civil Rights,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/DAddarioHonors/DAddarioHonors-ch1.htm|title=Chapter I: The Activist Consensus |website=www2.oberlin.edu}}</ref> joined with SCLC members to conduct picketing and a sit-in at Hammermill's [[Erie, Pennsylvania]] headquarters. White activist and preacher [[Robert W. Spike]] called Hammermill's decision as "an affront not only to 20 million American Negroes, but also to all citizens of goodwill in this country." He also criticized Hammermill executives directly, stating: "For the board chairman of one of America's largest paper manufacturers to sit side by side with Governor Wallace of Alabama and say that Selma is fine ... is either the height of naiveté or the depth of racism."<ref name="From Erie to Selma">[https://www.eriereader.com/article/from-erie-to-selma-in-1965 From Erie to Selma]. ''Erie Reader'', May 20, 2020.</ref>

The company called a meeting of the corporate leadership, SCLC's C. T. Vivian, and Oberlin student leadership. Their discussions led to Hammermill executives signing an agreement to support integration in Alabama.<ref>[http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/Hammermill.html ''The Best Known Name in Paper, Hammermill''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515215831/http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/Hammermill.html |date=May 15, 2013 }}, Pennsylvania State University.</ref> The agreement also required Hammermill to commit to equal pay for black and white workers. During these negotiations, around 50 police officers arrived outside of the Erie headquarters and arrested 65 activists, charging them with obstruction of an officer.<ref name="From Erie to Selma"/>