Historical Accuracy Of The Movie Selma

Martin Luther King justifies his cause for the protest by putting the men in the shoes of the black people that are trying to be heard through the protests. For instance, he raises doubts about the meaning of a “just law” and pointing out specific examples that exemplifies that laws were unfair and unjust. “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal.’ It was ‘illegal’ to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany” (King). This was a powerful example of an unjust law because how could it be illegal to aid a person under a dictator like Hitler’s rule.

In the movie Selma, there were several historical fallacies which created controversial debates over how candid the movie industry must be to the the public. The film suggested that there was great skirmish about the bill of rights (which was officially signed and conceded into law on July 1964) between King and Johnson, it showed King continuously press an ostensibly resilient Johnson to proceed with the voting of the bill. But in fact, there was never any uncertainty that there would be a voting on the rights bill; the struggle was merely fictional and made no historical sense. King and Johnson had a remarkable relationship; two men from different backgrounds, responsibilities and constituencies, formed an alliance to pass the bill of rights. “This faux tension was clearly added to make the movie more dramatic” (‘Selma’ vs History, 2013).

Dr. King thrived to achieve legal equality for African-Americans in the United States (archive).  Everyone has their personal opinion of what he stood for, but is it based on factual evidence? Simmons, a Feminist from Kings era, felt that Dr. King didn’t accomplish anything different from what the people before him did, yet he received all the credit for everything. Perhaps Dr. King’s success was overrated. Many scholars believe that he was diligent and very deserving of all the titles he obtained.

Selma is a historical film that features Civil Right legend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (portrayed by David Oyelowo). The movie shows the activist as he leads the historical march to Selma, Alabama. In addition, movie lovers will see the brutality shown against the protesting, while fighting for their constitutional rights. The touching film also showed the power of the people. A few things from the Movie A Nation coming together After the nation saw the things happeining in the southern United States, many people went down south and joined King, and the other protesters.

Selma is very historically inaccurate in its portrayal of the characters, events, and omissions of some groups involved with the campaign in Selma, Alabama, to secure voting rights for black citizens. In the movie Selma, Martin Luther King ( David Oyelowo) advocates for the rights of black citizens to vote, his actions are not welcomed and are despised by the upper class people. King goes through many struggles in the fight to obtain this right, along his journey he accomplished the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by president Johnson. The characters portrayed in this film, Martin Luther King played by David Oyelowo , Coretta Scott King played by Carmen Ejogo, and President Lyndon B. Johnson played by Tom Wilkinson were scripted and

This form of oppression was known as Jim Crow laws, which allowed a sort of legal discrimination towards Blacks. The need for a march was first thought of in the early 1940’s when A. Philip Randolph who was the president of the Negro American Labor Council wanted to combat discriminatory hiring toward African Americans. Fast forward to 1963, the year that the March On Washington occurred, America hit the 100th year mark for the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation set forth by Abraham Lincoln. This was a reminder to the nation of the need to alleviate racial tension. With that being said, people from all different races set aside their differences in order to collaborate for the march.

During the 1960’s civil rights movement hundreds of blacks were unlawfully arrested and beaten in attempts to end segregation. Many civil rights leaders such as John Lewis, Dr. Martin Luther King jr. and professor, Jim lawson strived to teach and demonstrate others how to bring equality peace by using non-violence methods. Marching, protesting, and participating in sit-ins tested the strength, morals, and dignity of John Lewis and others. The trilogy March, tells a story about a young farm boy, John Lewis, who was inspired to help end segregation and how he used non-violence at protests, marches, and sit-ins.

This was a widespread televised event. Ending at the Lincoln memorial would be an entire program. Statements were made by the organizations one of them saying, “As such, the Washington March is a living petition […] of both races who will be present from all parts of our country

Many African Americans during the 1940s and so on were being lynched and murdered for no other reason other than racism. Whites did not like Negroes. They thought we were just worthless, beneath them and just plain out dumb. They would call us out our name such as the “N” word and degrade us. Emmett till was one of those African Americans who was murdered in that time period.

The crowd at the march was very diverse, and it included all types of people. A lot of people participated in this event, and it helped change a lot during the Civil Rights Movement. The highlight of the March on Washington was the “I Have a Dream” speech given by Martin Luther King Jr.. His speech was at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. More than 200,000 people listened to Martin

Martin Luther King Jr. uses both logical and emotional appeals in order for all his listeners’ to be able to relate and contemplate his speeches. He does an exceptional job using both these appeals throughout his speeches by backing up his emotional appeals with logical ones. Using emotional appeals captures an audience's attention and makes them think about what the narrator is saying. Emotional appeal uses intense words and charged language to grab listeners to get them to keep listening. On the other hand, logical appeals helps to grasp the concept better and provides facts that prove it to be true.

With the help of these four steps, he justifies the need for the demonstration. King illustrates the city of Birmingham as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States,” (King 2). Here King is able to show that injustices are present in Birmingham, which further justifies his reason for a peaceful demonstration. King proceeds to speak about his method of protesting. He states that negotiation was not met, and that “[their] hopes had been blasted,” that like “victims of a broken promise,” their wishes had been disregarded, (King 2).

After a fifty mile fight, Selma to Montgomery, African Americans finally reached the finish line, and voting was achievable for all. It was not easy though. After 250 years of slavery the civil war made everyone free. The reconstruction followed, in efforts to make things equal for everyone, but Plessy v. Ferguson was a setback. It started the “separate but equal” concept, and life was segregated for 60 years.

At the 1963 March on Washington, American Baptist minister and activist Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of his most famous speeches in history on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the height of the African American civil rights movement. King maintains an overall passionate tone throughout the speech, but in the beginning, he projected a more urgent, cautionary, earnest, and reverent tone to set the audience up for his message. Towards the end, his tone becomes more hopeful, optimistic, and uplifting to inspire his audience to listen to his message: take action against racial segregation and discrimination in a peaceful manner. Targeting black and white Americans with Christian beliefs, King exposes the American public to the injustice

Next in the movie we see the first march in Selma to the courthouse protesting against voting discrimination. The courthouse march led to King being arrested along with a lot of other marchers. Months later we see another protest, which heads violent resulting in a death in the end. After a heated discussion with Johnson, King decides to organize a march from Selma to Montgomery fighting for some change, but King isn’t able to participate in the march due to problems with his marriage. This march will become known as Bloody Sunday...because of the violent attack that took place on blacks by the police (Wallenfeldt).