Selma to Montgomery marches

===Events of January===
The Selma Voting Rights Campaign officially started on January 2, 1965, when King addressed a mass meeting in [[Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church (Selma, Alabama)|Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church]] in defiance of the anti-meeting injunction. The date had been chosen because Sheriff Clark was out of town, and Chief Baker had stated he would not enforce the injunction.<ref name="crmvet.org"/> Over the following weeks, SCLC and SNCC activists expanded voter registration drives and protests in Selma and the adjacent [[Black Belt (region of Alabama)|Black Belt]] counties.

Preparations for mass registration commenced in early January, and with King out of town fundraising, were largely under the leadership of [[Diane Nash]]. On January 15, King called President Johnson and the two agreed to begin a major push for voting rights legislation which would assist in advancing the passage of more anti-poverty legislation.<ref>[http://archive.millercenter.org/presidentialrecordings/lbj-wh6501.04-6736 Johnson Conversation with Martin Luther King on January 15, 1965 (WH6501.04)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914035252/http://archive.millercenter.org/presidentialrecordings/lbj-wh6501.04-6736 |date=September 14, 2017 }}, [[Miller Center of Public Affairs]]. Accessed September 13, 2017.</ref> After King returned to Selma, the first big "Freedom Day" of the new campaign occurred on January 18.

According to their respective strategies, Chief Baker's police were cordial toward demonstrators, but Sheriff Clark refused to let black registrants enter the county courthouse. Clark made no arrests or assaults at this time. However, in an incident that drew national attention, Dr. King was knocked down and kicked by a leader of the National States Rights Party, who was quickly arrested by Chief Baker.<ref name="ReferenceA">"[http://crmvet.org/tim/timhis65.htm#1965selmacourthouse 1965 – Marching to the Courthouse]". Civil Rights Movement Archive History and Timeline.</ref> Baker also arrested the head of the [[American Nazi Party]], [[George Lincoln Rockwell]], who said he'd come to Selma to "run King out of town".<ref>"[http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1965/01/19/page/1/article/king-struck-kicked-during-racial-drive United Press International King Struck, Kicked During Racial Drive]", ''Chicago Tribune'', January 19, 1965.</ref>

Over the next week, blacks persisted in their attempts to register. Sheriff Clark responded by arresting organizers, including [[Amelia Boynton Robinson|Amelia Boynton]] and [[Hosea Williams]]. Eventually, 225 registrants were arrested as well at the county courthouse. Their cases were handled by the [[NAACP Legal Defense Fund]]. On January 20, President Johnson gave his inaugural address but did not mention voting rights.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Up to this point, the overwhelming majority of registrants and marchers were sharecroppers, blue-collar workers, and students. On January 22, [[Frederick Reese]], a black schoolteacher who was also DCVL President, finally convinced his colleagues to join the campaign and register en masse. When they refused Sheriff Clark's orders to disperse at the courthouse, an ugly scene commenced. Clark's posse beat the teachers away from the door, but they rushed back only to be beaten again. The teachers retreated after three attempts, and marched to a mass meeting where they were celebrated as heroes by the black community.<ref>"[http://crmvet.org/tim/timhis65.htm#1965selmateachers 1965 – Teachers March]". Civil Rights Movement Archive History and Timeline.</ref>

On January 25, U.S. District Judge [[Daniel Holcombe Thomas|Daniel Thomas]] issued rules requiring that at least 100 people must be permitted to wait at the courthouse without being arrested. After Dr. King led marchers to the courthouse that morning, Jim Clark began to arrest all registrants in excess of 100, and corral the rest. [[Annie Lee Cooper]], a fifty-three-year-old practical nurse who had been part of the Selma movement since 1963, struck Clark after he twisted her arm, and she knocked him to his knees. Four deputies seized Cooper, and photographers captured images of Clark beating her repeatedly with his club. The crowd was inflamed and some wanted to intervene against Clark, but King ordered them back as Cooper was taken away. Although Cooper had violated nonviolent discipline, the movement rallied around her.

[[James Bevel]], speaking at a mass meeting, deplored her actions because "then [the press] don't talk about the registration."<ref>"[http://crmvet.org/tim/timhis65.htm#1965selmacooper 1965 – Annie Cooper and Sheriff Clark]". Civil Rights Movement Archive History and Timeline.</ref> But when asked about the incident by [[Jet (magazine)|''Jet'']] magazine, Bevel said, "Not everybody who registers is nonviolent; not everybody who registers is supposed to be nonviolent."<ref name="Jet, February 11, 1965">{{Cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qcADAAAAMBAJ&q="not+everybody+who+registers"|page=8|magazine=Jet|date=February 11, 1965|title=Selma Woman's Girdle a Big Factor in Fight with Sheriff|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company}}</ref> The incident between Clark and Cooper was a media sensation, putting the campaign on the front page of ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>David Garrow, ''Protest at Selma'' (Yale University Press, 1978), p. 45.</ref> When asked if she would do it again, Cooper told ''Jet'', "I try to be nonviolent, but I just can't say I wouldn't do the same thing all over again if they treat me brutish like they did this time."<ref name="Jet, February 11, 1965"/>