The purpose of the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965 was to demand voting rights for African Americans in Selma, Alabama and to protest against discriminatory voting practices, such as literacy tests and poll taxes, that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The march was also a response to the violent suppression of a previous march from Selma to Montgomery, known as "Bloody Sunday," where marchers were attacked by state troopers as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The Selma to Montgomery march ultimately led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited racial discrimination in voting.
