Foot Soldiers of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Marches Congressional Gold Medal

This medal was presented collectively to the voting rights marchers—known as foot soldiers—who participated in the Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, voting rights marches of 1965.

March 7, 2015, marked the 50th anniversary of the peaceful marches by civil rights demonstrators from all racial and economic backgrounds to protest the denial of voting rights to African-Americans. The first march, which left the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in an attempt to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, was unsuccessful. The day became known as Bloody Sunday because of the brutal resistance the protesters encountered. The second attempt to cross the bridge, known as Turnaround Tuesday, was halted because of concern for the protesters’ safety. The protesters attempted a third march from Selma to Montgomery which was successful, becoming a climactic event in the civil rights movement.

The extraordinary bravery and sacrifice of these men and women brought national attention to the struggle for equal voting rights and served as the catalyst for Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which President Lyndon Johnson signed into law on August 6, 1965.

The bronze medal pictured is a duplicate of the Congressional Gold Medal.