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Article: Marching to a new war; civil rights groups face a conservative challenge, public doubts and a fraying coalition. (includes related article on new NAACP chair Myrlie Evers-Williams)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- March 6, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The image is seared into the American consciousness. On March 7, 1965, a dignified, unarmed column of civil rights marchers crossed an Alabama bridge, protesting for the right to vote. They were met with dogs and clubs, violence and arrests. Segregation triumphed that "bloody Sunday" in Selma, but it was the last gasp of the old order. A few months later Congress passed the Voting Rights Act.
Thirty years later, the civil rights movement is crossing another bridge. There is no going back to legal segregation and "separate but equal." But the first Republican Congress since the civil rights movement of the 1960s is eager to repeal affirmative action policies, slash ...