Medal - 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Marches

Reverse

The reverse design commemorating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 features a hand, ballot box and the quote “EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN MUST HAVE AN EQUAL RIGHT TO VOTE,” from Lyndon B. Johnson’s voting rights speech to Congress.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN MUST HAVE AN EQUAL RIGHT TO VOTE
VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965
ACT OF CONGRESS 2015

Engraver: Michael Gaudioso

Edge

Plain

Comment

The 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Marches 1.5 inch medal minted at the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia. This medal is a bronze replica of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded in recognition of the protest marches that took place in March 1965. These marches served as a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Protesters in these marches are known as the “foot soldiers of the voting rights movement.” The three marches, known now as “Bloody Sunday,” “Turnaround Tuesday” and the “Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March,” brought people together from all racial and economic backgrounds to participate in peaceful protest marches. Participants in the first march, on March 7, 1965, led by civil rights leader John Lewis and Reverend Hosea Williams, met with brutal resistance in their attempt to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The second march attempt, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was turned back to the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church after he feared for the safety of the protesters. Under federal protection, the final successful march from Selma to Montgomery March 21–25, 1965, celebrated the marchers’ achievements and included a processional for fallen comrades. Walking 54 miles from Selma to the state capitol building in Montgomery, the protesters symbolized the 100–year journey it took for African Americans to gain the right to vote.