#BlackHistoryReimagined, Day 14
In this series, I re-imagine the lives of black folks gone too soon.
#BlackHistoryReimagined, Day 14 Jimmie Lee Jackson was born on December 16, 1938, in Marion, Alabama. He is most prominently known as a civil rights activist who worked to get voting rights for African Americans in Alabama. He enlisted in the military as a young man and fought in the Vietnam War. After spending a few years in Indiana, he moved back to Marion where he worked as a woodcutter for very low wages. He later became the youngest deacon at his church. After several unsuccessful attempts at voting, he became a prominent member of the Civil Rights Movement.
On February 18, 1965, he took part in a peaceful protest that ended in police violence. The protesters ran in several directions with Jackson fleeing into a restaurant called Mack’s Café. Jackson was shot in the stomach by an Alabama State Trooper while trying to protect his mother and grandfather. He was taken to a hospital in Selma for wound treatment. On February 26, 1965, Alabama State Troopers visited the hospital to arrest a barely-healed Jackson. He was taken into custody but served no more than three days. Inspired by Jackson’s injury, a march from Selma to Montgomery was planned. Now known as Bloody Sunday, the march ended in extreme violence. Two weeks later, a successful march was held, in which Jackson participated. The Voting Rights Act became law in August 1965. The legislation fought the discriminatory measures that had kept African Americans like Jackson from voting. Bloody Sunday is remembered annually with a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. At 81-years-old, Jackson still leads the march, and votes faithfully in every single election, whether its local, regional, state or national. He encourages people to vote as if their lives depend on it.
