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Mayor James Perkins welcomes you to the Dallas County seat in the largest contiguous historic district in the State of Alabama.
The City is best known for the 1960s Selma Voting Rights Movement and the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965.
“Queen City of the Black Belt”
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- Visitors
Welcome to Selma, Alabama
Opportunities for exploration abound in Selma and Dallas County, Alabama. Locals and visitors alike often find themselves basking in our rich layers of history and abundant recreational opportunities.
Whether you are looking for a journey through time or a relaxing getaway from the constant grind of big city life, Selma is the place for you. Come explore with us today.
- Doing Business
- How Do I ?
Menu
- Government
Mayor James Perkins welcomes you to the Dallas County seat in the largest contiguous historic district in the State of Alabama.
The City is best known for the 1960s Selma Voting Rights Movement and the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965.
“Queen City of the Black Belt”
- Departments
- Visitors
Welcome to Selma, Alabama
Opportunities for exploration abound in Selma and Dallas County, Alabama. Locals and visitors alike often find themselves basking in our rich layers of history and abundant recreational opportunities.
Whether you are looking for a journey through time or a relaxing getaway from the constant grind of big city life, Selma is the place for you. Come explore with us today.
- Doing Business
- How Do I ?
About Us
Selma to Montgomery march was part of a series of civil rights protests that occurred in 1965
The County
Seat of Dallas County
Selma is located high on the banks of the Alabama River in Dallas County of which it is the county seat. The city is best known for the Battle of Selma and for the Selma to Montgomery Marches. Selma is home to the largest contiguous historic district in the State of Alabama.
The city is best known for the 1960s Selma Voting Rights Movement and the Selma to Montgomery marches, beginning with “Bloody Sunday” in March 1965 and ending with 25,000 people entering Montgomery at the end of the last march to press for voting rights. This activism generated national attention to social justice and that summer, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by Congress to authorize federal oversight and enforcement of constitutional rights of all citizens.
The History
of Selma, Alabama
Selma was first recorded on a map in 1732 asEcor Bienville,in honor of the then-French provincial governor Jean-BaptisteLe Moyne, Seiuer de Bienville. Not until the early 1800s did European settlers begin to frequent the site, however, which by then they referred to as “High Soap Stone Bluff.” The site became known as “Moore’s Bluff” when Thomas Moore, a settler from Tennessee, built a cabin there in 1815.
Two years later, a group of influential settlers in the area, including future vice presidentWilliam Rufus King, formed the Selma Town Land Company to buy up land to establish a town above the river. On December 4, 1820, Selma was incorporated by the state legislature.
Selma’s initial growth and development were hampered by its proximity toAlabama’s first capital atCahawba(Cahaba), 10 miles away at the junction of the Alabama and Cahabarivers. When the state capital moved toTuscaloosain 1826, Selma began to rival it for county supremacy, even though Cahaba retained its status as county seat until 1866.
Selma’s economy was stimulated by the emergence of thecottontrade throughout Alabama’sBlack Belt. Further boosts to its early economy included steadily increasingsteamboattraffic on the river throughout the 1820s and 1830s and the chartering of the Selma and Tennessee Rivers Railroad in 1836.
Therailroad’s operation was temporarily suspended and Selma’s modest economic boom ended as a result of the depression following the Panic of 1837. However, in the 1840s and 1850s Selma rebounded, with its cotton trade and its population doubling by 1860.
By the beginning of the Civil War, Selma had become a transportation center and went on to become one of the main military manufacturing centers supporting the South’s war effort. Its foundries produced much-needed supplies, particularly iron and munitions, and itsNavy yardconstructedConfederate warships, including the ironclad CSSTennessee, and outfitted theCSSNashville.Selma’s importance to the South made it one of the main targets ofGen. James H. Wilson’s raidinto Alabama late into the war.
Edmund Pettus Bridge
On April 2, 1865, Wilson attacked forces under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest who were defending Selma and captured the city along with 2,700 Confederate prisoners. Wilson’s forces then proceeded to burn many of the town’s residences and private businesses, as well as the Confederate arsenal and naval foundry. Ironically, the war ended just a few days later, but it would take Selma many years to recover from the devastation.
Selma would again become the scene of a dramatic struggle when it served as the focal point of the civil rights movement in 1965. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, approximately 600 marchers set out fromBrown Chapel AME Churcheast on U.S. Highway 80, headed forMontgomeryto petition the legislature for reforms in the voter-registration process.
They were met just six blocks outside of town at the Edmund Pettus Bridge by state and local law enforcement and were turned back with billy clubs and tear gas; the national press soon began calling the day “Bloody Sunday.” Ten days later, U.S. District JudgeFrank M. Johnson Jr.granted an order authorizing the march to Montgomery. On March 25, 1965, some 25,000 marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on their way to Montgomery.
