The film Selma, starring David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King, Jr., focuses on the Alabama city in 1965, when a protest for voting rights turned tragically violent. The outcry over the images of black men and women being beaten by police galvanized the nation and helped secure civil rights that were merely theoretical. Fifty years later, as we prepare to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, it’s hard to ignore the parallels in the film as the rallying cries “Black lives matter” and “I can’t breathe” demand similar change and social justice today.
To dig deeper into the real lives of the leaders of the Civil Rights movement and others depicted in the film, here are some excellent books, many written by the people who were there for these pivotal years in American history.
Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures