Editing Selma, Alabama

{{Short description|City in Dallas County, Alabama, United States}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name            = Selma, Alabama
| settlement_type          = City
| nickname                 = 
| motto                    = Queen City of the Black Belt, Butterfly Capital of Alabama
| image_skyline            = {{multiple image
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 |perrow                   = 1/2
 |caption_align            = center
 |image1                   = The St. James Hotel, the only surviving hotel in the downtown historic district, Selma, Alabama LCCN2010639082.tif{{!}}
 |caption1                 = St. James Hotel and Water Avenue
 |image2                   = Edmund Pettus Bridge 03.jpg
 |caption2                 = [[Edmund Pettus Bridge]]
 |image3                   = National Voting Rights Museum and Institute (27833744111).jpg{{!}}
 |caption3                 = National Voting Rights Museum and Institute
 }}
| imagesize                = 
| image_caption            = 
| image_flag               = Flag of Selma, Alabama.png
| image_seal               = Seal of Selma, Alabama.png
| image_map                = Dallas_County_Alabama_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Selma_Highlighted.svg
| mapsize                  = 250px
| map_caption              = Location of Selma, Alabama
| image_map1               = {{Maplink|frame=yes|plain=y|frame-width=280|frame-height=280|frame-align=center|stroke-width=2|zoom=11|type=shape-inverse|stroke-color=#808080|fill=#808080|title=Selma|id=Q79941|fill-opacity=0.4|frame-coordinates={{Coord|32.415|-87.030}}}}
| mapsize1                 = 
| map_caption1             = Interactive map of Selma
| subdivision_type         = Country
| subdivision_name         = United States
| subdivision_type1        = State
| subdivision_name1        = [[Alabama]]
| subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Alabama|County]]
| subdivision_name2        = [[Dallas County, Alabama|Dallas]]
| government_footnotes     = <ref>{{cite web |title=City Council |url=https://selma-al.gov/government/city-council/ |publisher=City of Selma, Alabama |access-date=March 7, 2025 }}</ref>
| government_type          = [[Mayor–council government|Mayor–Council]]
| leader_title             = Mayor
| leader_name              = [[James Perkins Jr.]]
| leader_party             = [[Democratic Party (United States)|D]]
| leader_title1            = [[President (government title)|Council President]]
| leader_name1             = Warren "Billy" Young
| leader_title2            = [[Councilor|Councilmembers]]
| leader_name2             = Troy Harvill<br>Christie Thomas<br>Clay Carmichael<br>Lesia James<br>Samuel Randolph<br>Atkin Jemison<br>Jannie Thomas<br>Michael Johnson
| leader_title3            = [[Administrative assistant]]
| leader_name3             = Carneetie Ellison
| established_title        = Founded
| established_date         = 1815
| established_title1       = [[Municipal corporation|Incorporated]]
| established_date1        = December 4, 1820
| named_for                = The Songs of Selma
| unit_pref                = Imperial
| area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2024">{{cite web |title=2024 U.S. Gazetteer Files |url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/2024_gaz_place_01.txt |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=March 7, 2025 }}</ref>
| area_magnitude           = 
| area_total_km2           = 37.304
| area_land_km2            = 35.766
| area_water_km2           = 1.537
| area_total_sq_mi         = 14.403
| area_land_sq_mi          = 13.809
| area_water_sq_mi         = 0.594
| population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
| population_est           = 16666
| pop_est_as_of            = 2023
| pop_est_footnotes        = <ref name="USCensusEst2023"/>
| population_footnotes     = <ref name="2020 Census (City)"/>
| population_total         = 17971
| population_density_km2   = 35.77
| population_density_sq_mi = 92.64
| population_demonym       = Selmarian
| timezone                 = [[Central Time Zone|Central (CST)]]
| utc_offset               = –6
| timezone_DST             = CDT
| utc_offset_DST           = –5
| elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
| elevation_m              = 41
| elevation_ft             = 135
| coordinates              = {{Wikidatacoord|Q79941|region:US-AL_type:city|display=inline,title}}
| postal_code_type         = [[ZIP Code]]s
| postal_code              = 36701, 36702, 36703
| area_code                = [[Area code 334|334]]
| blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
| blank_info               = 01-69120
| blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
| blank1_info              = 0163940<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|0163940 }}</ref>
| blank2_name              = [[Sales tax]]
| blank2_info              = 10.0%<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.avalara.com/taxrates/en/state-rates/alabama/cities/selma.html |title=Selma (AL) sales tax rate |access-date=March 7, 2025 }}</ref>
| website                  = {{URL|https://selma-al.gov/|selma-al.gov}}
}}

'''Selma''' is a city in and the [[county seat]] of [[Dallas County, Alabama|Dallas County]], in the [[Black Belt (region of Alabama)|Black Belt region]] of south central [[Alabama]] and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the [[Alabama River]], the city has a population of 17,971 as of the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]].<ref name="2020 Census (City)">{{cite web |title=Explore Census Data |url=https://data.census.gov/profile/Selma_city,_Alabama?g=160XX00US0169120 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=March 7, 2025 |language=en }}</ref> About 80% of the population is African-American.

Selma was a trading center and market town during the [[antebellum South|antebellum]] years of [[King Cotton]] in the South. It was also an important armaments-manufacturing and iron shipbuilding center for the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], as well as providing a hospital converted from a Masonic university, during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], surrounded by miles of earthen fortifications. The Confederate forces were defeated during the [[Battle of Selma]], in the final full month of the war.

In modern times, the city is best known for the 1960s [[civil rights movement]] and the [[Selma to Montgomery marches]], beginning with "Bloody Sunday" in March 1965, when unarmed peaceful protesters were assaulted by County and state highway police.

By the end of March 1965, an estimated 25,000 people entered Montgomery to press for voting rights. This activism generated national attention for social justice. That summer, the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] was passed by Congress to authorize federal oversight and enforcement of constitutional rights of all American citizens.

Due to agriculture and industry decline, Selma has lost about a third of its peak population since the 1960s. The city is focusing on heritage tourism, to build on its role as a major influence in civil rights and desegregation.

Selma is one of Alabama's poorest cities, with an average income of $35,500, which is 30% less than the state average. One in every three residents in Selma lives below the state [[Poverty threshold|poverty line]].

==History==
Before discovery and settlement by Europeans, the area of present-day Selma had been inhabited for thousands of years by various warring tribes of [[indigenous peoples|Native Americans]]. The Europeans encountered the historic Native American people known as the [[Muscogee (Creek)|Muscogee]] (also known as the Creek), who had been in the area for hundreds of years.

French explorers and colonists were the first Europeans to explore this area. In 1732, they recorded the site of present-day Selma as ''Écor Bienville.'' Later Anglo-Americans called it the Moore's Bluff settlement. Selma was incorporated in 1820. The city was planned and named as Selma by [[William R. King]], a politician and planter from [[North Carolina]] who was a future vice president of the United States. The name, meaning 'high seat' or 'throne',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.selma.com/history.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815233949/http://www.selma.com/history.aspx |archive-date=August 15, 2011 |title=History of Selma, Alabama |publisher=City of Selma, Alabama |access-date=June 17, 2011 }}</ref> came from the [[Ossian]]ic poem ''The Songs of Selma'' by Scottish poet [[James Macpherson]].<ref name="alher">{{cite journal |year=2003 |author=Daniel Fate Brooks |title=The Faces of William R. King |journal=Alabama Heritage |publisher=University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama Department of Archives and History |volume=69 |issue=Summer |pages=14–23 |url=http://www.havana-mobile.com/AH_69_William_Rufus_King.pdf |access-date=June 17, 2011 |archive-date=June 21, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060621065754/http://www.havana-mobile.com/AH_69_William_Rufus_King.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Selma during the Civil War===
{{Main|Selma, Alabama, in the Civil War}}

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Selma was one of the South's main military manufacturing centers, producing many supplies and munitions, and building Confederate warships such as the [[Ironclad warship|ironclad]] [[CSS Tennessee|''Tennessee'']]. The Selma iron works and foundry, where a young [[William Kehoe (businessman)|William Kehoe]] made bullets, was considered the second-most important source of weaponry for the South, after the [[Tredegar Iron Works]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]]. Half the cannon and two thirds of the fixed ammunition used by the Confederacy in the last two years of the war were made there.<ref>[[Walter L. Fleming]], ''Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama'', [https://archive.org/details/civilwarreconstr00flemuoft/page/151/mode/1up?view=theater p.151] (New York: [[Columbia University Press]], 1905) (retrieved November 9, 2024).</ref> This strategic concentration of manufacturing capabilities eventually made Selma a target of Union raids into Alabama late in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref name=alabama/>

Because of its military importance, Selma had been fortified by three miles of earthworks that ran in a semicircle around the city. They were anchored on the north and south by the [[Alabama River]]. The works had been built two years earlier,{{clarify|reason=Earlier than what?|date=August 2020}} and while neglected for the most part since, were still formidable. They were {{convert|8|to|12|ft|m}} high, {{convert|15|ft|m}} thick at the base, with a ditch {{convert|4|ft|m}} wide and {{convert|5|ft|m}} deep along the front. In front of this was a {{convert|5|ft|m}}-high picket fence of heavy posts planted in the ground and sharpened at the top. At prominent positions, earthen forts were built with artillery in position to cover the ground over which an assault would have to be made.
[[File:Ruins of Confederate States Naval Foundry at Selma.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins of the Confederate States Naval Foundry at Selma in 1865]]

The North had learned of the importance of Selma to the Confederate military, and the US military planned to take the city. Gen. [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] first made an effort to reach it, but after advancing from the west as far as [[Meridian, Mississippi]], within {{convert|107|mi|km}} of Selma, his forces retreated back to the Mississippi River.{{clarify|reason=When?|date=August 2020}} Gen. [[Benjamin Grierson]], invading with a cavalry force from [[Memphis, Tennessee]], was intercepted and returned.{{clarify|reason=When?|date=August 2020}} Gen. Rousseau made a dash in the direction of Selma, but was misled by his guides and struck the railroad forty miles east of [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]].{{clarify|reason=When?|date=August 2020}} <ref name=hardy>{{Cite book |last=Hardy |first=John |title=Selam: Her Institutions and Her Men |publisher=Bert Neville and Clarence DeBray |year=1879 |url=http://scuba-doc.com/Batlsel.htm |access-date=February 1, 2010 |archive-date=October 1, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001151426/http://scuba-doc.com/Batlsel.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Battle of Selma====<!--This section needs to be better cited. It reads as if it was lifted verbatim from another source-->
[[File:James Wilson (soldier).jpg|thumb|right|180px|Union General [[James H. Wilson]]]]
{{Main|Battle of Selma}}
On March 30, 1865, Union General [[James H. Wilson]] detached Gen. [[John T. Croxton]]'s brigade to destroy all Confederate property at [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tuscaloosa]]. Wilson's forces captured a Confederate courier, who was found to be carrying dispatches from [[History of Confederate States Army Generals|Confederate General]] [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]] describing his scattered forces. Wilson sent a brigade to destroy the bridge across the [[Cahaba River]] at Centreville, which cut off most of Forrest's reinforcements from reaching the area. He began a running fight with Forrest's forces that did not end until after the fall of Selma.

On the afternoon of April 1, opening what would be the final full month of the war, and after [[skirmisher|skirmishing]] all morning, Wilson's advanced guard ran into Forrest's line of battle at Ebenezer Church, where the Randolph Road intersected the main Selma road. Forrest had hoped to bring his entire force to bear on Wilson. Delays caused by flooding, plus earlier contact with the enemy, resulted in Forrest's mustering fewer than 2,000 men, many of whom were not war veterans but home militia consisting of old men and young boys.

The outnumbered and outgunned Confederates fought for more than an hour as reinforcements of Union cavalry and artillery were deployed. Forrest was wounded by a saber-wielding Union captain, whom he shot and killed with his revolver. Finally, a Union cavalry charge broke the Confederate militia, causing Forrest to be flanked on his right. He was forced to retreat.
[[File:Nathan Bedford Forrest.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Confederate General [[Nathan Bedford Forrest|Nathan B. Forrest]]]]

Early the next morning, Forrest reached Selma; he advised Gen. [[Richard Taylor (Confederate general)|Richard Taylor]], departmental commander, to leave the city. Taylor did so after giving Forrest command of the defense. Selma was protected by fortifications that circled much of the city; it was protected on the north and south by the [[Alabama River]]. The wall was high and deep, surrounded by a ditch and picket fence. Earthen forts were built to cover the grounds with artillery fire.

Forrest's defenders consisted of his Tennessee escort company, [[Henry Eustace McCulloch|McCullough]]'s Missouri Regiment, Crossland's Kentucky Brigade, Roddey's Alabama Brigade, [[Frank Crawford Armstrong|Frank Armstrong]]'s Mississippi Brigade, General [[Daniel W. Adams]]' state reserves, and the citizens of Selma who were "volunteered" to man the works. Altogether this force numbered less than 4,000. As the Selma fortifications were built to be defended by 20,000 men, Forrest's soldiers had to stand 10 to {{convert|12|ft|m}} apart to try to cover the works.

Wilson's force arrived in front of the Selma fortifications at 2&nbsp;pm. He had placed Gen. Eli Long's Division across the Summerfield Road with the Chicago Board of Trade Battery in support. Gen. [[Emory Upton]]'s Division was placed across the Range Line Road with Battery I, 4th US Artillery in support. Altogether Wilson had 9,000 troops available for the assault.

The Federal commander's plan was for Upton to send in a 300-man detachment after dark to cross the swamp on the Confederate right; enter the works, and begin a flanking movement toward the center moving along the line of fortifications. A single gun from Upton's artillery would signal the attack to be undertaken by the entire Federal Corps.

At 5&nbsp;pm, however, Gen. [[Eli Long]]'s ammunition train in the rear was attacked by advance elements of Forrest's scattered forces approaching Selma. Both Long and Upton had positioned significant numbers of troops in their rear for just such an event. But, Long decided to begin his assault against the Selma fortifications to neutralize the enemy attack in his rear.

Long's troops attacked in a single rank in three main lines, dismounted and shooting their Spencer's carbines, supported by their own artillery fire. The Confederates replied with heavy small arms and artillery fire. The Southern artillery had only solid shot on hand, while a short distance away was an arsenal which produced tons of canister, a highly effective anti-personnel ammunition.
[[File:St. Paul's Episcopal Church Selma.jpg|thumb|300px|[[St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Selma, Alabama)|St. Paul's Episcopal Church]] burned following the Battle of Selma and was rebuilt in 1871.]]

The Federals suffered many casualties (including General Long) but continued their attack. Once the Union Army reached the works, there was vicious hand-to-hand fighting. Many soldiers were struck down with clubbed muskets, but they kept pouring into the works with their greater numbers. In less than 30 minutes, Long's men had captured the works protecting the Summerfield Road.

Meanwhile, General Upton, observing Long's success, ordered his division forward. They succeeded in overmounting the defenses and soon U.S. flags could be seen waving over the works from Range Line Road to Summerfield Road.

After the outer works fell, General Wilson led the [[4th U.S. Cavalry]] Regiment in a mounted charge down the Range Line Road toward the unfinished inner line of works. The retreating Confederate forces, upon reaching the inner works, united and fired repeatedly together into the charging column. This broke up the charge and sent General Wilson sprawling to the ground when his favorite horse was wounded. He quickly remounted his stricken horse and ordered a dismounted assault by several regiments.

Mixed units of Confederate troops had also occupied the Selma railroad depot and the adjoining banks of the railroad bed to make a stand next to the Plantersville Road (present day Broad Street). The fighting there was heavy, but by 7 p.m. the superior numbers of Union troops had managed to flank the Southern positions. The Confederates abandoned the depot as well as the inner line of works.

In the darkness, the Federals rounded up hundreds of prisoners, but hundreds more escaped down the Burnsville Road, including generals Forrest, Armstrong, and Roddey. To the west, many Confederate soldiers fought the pursuing Union Army all the way down to the eastern side of Valley Creek. They escaped in the darkness by swimming across the Alabama River near the mouth of Valley Creek (where the present day Battle of Selma Reenactment is held.)

The Union troops looted the city that night and burned many businesses and private residences. They spent the next week destroying the arsenal and naval foundry. They left Selma heading to Montgomery. When the war ended three weeks later, they were en route to [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]] and [[Macon, Georgia]].

===Post-war period===
Selma became the seat of Dallas County in 1866 and the county courthouse was built there.<ref name=alabama>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Lewis |first=Herbert J. |title=Selma |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Alabama |date=January 21, 2010 |url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1635 |access-date=February 1, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621074338/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1635 |archive-date=June 21, 2010 }}</ref> Planters and other slaveholders struggled with how to deal with freed slaves after the war. Insurgents tried to keep [[white supremacy]] over the [[freedmen]], and most whites resented former slaves being granted the right to vote. As in other southern states, white Democrats regained political power in the mid-1870s after suppressing black voting through violence and fraud; [[Reconstruction Era of the United States|Reconstruction]] officially ended in 1877 when federal troops were withdrawn. The white Democratic state legislature imposed [[Jim Crow laws]] of [[racial segregation]] in public facilities and other means of white supremacy.
[[File:Dallas_County_AL_EJI_Memorial.jpg|thumb|Portion of the [[Weathering steel|corten steel]] monument at the EJI's [[The National Memorial for Peace and Justice|National Memorial for Peace and Justice]] memorializing the Black individuals lynched in Dallas County, Alabama.]]
The city developed its own police force. County law enforcement was run by an elected county sheriff, whose jurisdiction included the grounds of the county courthouse. The county courthouse and jail were scenes of numerous [[Lynching in the United States|lynchings of African-Americans]], as sometimes mobs would take prisoners from the jail and hang them before trial. In February 1892, Willy Webb was put in the jail in Selma after police arrested him in Waynesville. The police intended to save Webb from a local lynch mob, but the mob abducted Webb from the jail and killed him. In June 1893, a lynch mob numbering 100 men seized "a black man named Daniel Edwards from the Selma jail, hanged him from a tree, and fired multiple rounds into his body" for allegedly becoming intimate with a white woman. In the 20th century, African-Americans were also lynched for labor-organizing activities. In 1935, Joe Spinner Johnson, a leader of the [[Sharecroppers Union|Alabama Sharecroppers Union]], which worked from 1931 to 1936 to get better pay and treatment from white planters, was beaten by a mob near his field, taken to the jail in Selma and beaten more; his body was left in a field near [[Greensboro, Alabama|Greensboro]].<ref>[https://eji.org/news/selma-alabama-memorializes-lynching-victims "Selma, Alabama memorializes lynching victims, March 05, 2018"], Equal Justice Initiative News. Retrieved June 11, 2018</ref>

===Twentieth century===
In 1901, the state legislature passed a new constitution with electoral provisions, such as [[poll tax (United States)|poll taxes]] and [[literacy tests]], that effectively [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised]] most blacks and tens of thousands of poor whites, leaving them without representation in government, and deprived them of participation in juries and other forms of citizenship. Selma, Dallas County and other jurisdictions carried out the segregation laws passed by the state.

Especially in the post-World War II period, legal challenges by the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]] against Southern discriminatory laws enabled blacks to more freely exercise their constitutional rights as citizens.

====Selma Voting Rights Movement====
{{see also|Selma to Montgomery marches}}
Selma maintained segregated schools and other facilities, enforcing the state law in new enterprises such as movie theaters. The Jim Crow laws and customs were enforced with violence.
[[File:Segregation 1938b.jpg|thumb|left|Segregated drinking fountain, 1938]]

In the 1960s, black people who pushed the boundaries, attempting to eat at "white-only" lunch counters or sit in the downstairs "white" section of movie theaters, were still beaten and arrested. Nearly half of Selma's residents were black, but because of the restrictive electoral laws and practices in place since the turn of the century, only one percent were registered to vote, preventing them from serving on juries or serving in local office.<ref>''U.S. Civil Rights Commission report'', 1961</ref> All the members of the city council were elected by [[at-large]] voting. Black people were prevented from registering to vote by means of a [[literacy test]], administered in a subjective way, as well as through economic retaliation organized by the [[Citizens' Councils|White Citizens' Council]] in response to civil rights activism, [[Ku Klux Klan]] violence and police repression. After the Supreme Court case ''[[Smith v. Allwright]]'' (1944) ended the use of [[white primaries]] by the Democratic Party, the Alabama state legislature passed a law giving voting registrars more authority to challenge prospective voters under the literacy test. In Selma, the county registration board opened doors for registration only two days a month, arrived late and took long lunches.<ref>''Eyes on the Prize'' documentary film ~ Blackside</ref>

In early 1963, [[Bernard Lafayette]] and Colia Lafayette of the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) began organizing in Selma alongside local civil rights leaders Sam, [[Amelia Boynton|Amelia]] and Bruce Boynton, Rev. L.L. Anderson of Tabernacle Baptist Church, [[J.L. Chestnut]] (Selma's first black attorney), [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference|SCLC]] Citizenship School teacher [[Marie Foster]], public school teacher Marie Moore, [[Frederick D. Reese]] and others active with the [[Dallas County Voters League]] (DCVL).<ref>[http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis63.htm#1963selma1 Selma — Cracking the Wall of Fear] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615060449/http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis63.htm#1963selma1 |date=June 15, 2009 }} ~ Civil Rights Movement Archive</ref>

In 1963, under the leadership of [[Patricia Swift Blalock]], the public library of Selma-Dallas County was integrated.<ref>Graham, P.T., (2002) ''A Right to Read: Segregation and Civil Rights in Alabama's Public Libraries, 1900–1965.'' Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.</ref>
[[File:Brown Chapel AME.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church (Selma, Alabama)|Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church]] in Selma. A gathering place for meetings and a starting point for the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches of 1965, it has been designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]].]]

Against fierce opposition from Dallas County Sheriff [[Jim Clark (sheriff)|Jim Clark]] and his volunteer posse, black people continued their voter registration and desegregation efforts, which expanded during 1963 and the first part of 1964. Defying intimidation, economic retaliation, arrests, firings and beatings, an ever-increasing number of Dallas County blacks tried to register to vote, but few were able to do so under the subjective system administered by whites.<ref>[http://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim63b.htm#1963fdselma Freedom Day in Selma] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816034441/http://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim63b.htm#1963fdselma |date=August 16, 2016 }} ~ Civil Rights Movement Archive</ref>

In the summer of 1964, a sweeping injunction issued by local judge James Hare barred any gathering of three or more people under sponsorship of SNCC, SCLC or DCVL, or with the involvement of 41 named civil rights leaders. This injunction temporarily halted civil-rights activity until Dr. [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] defied it by speaking to a crowd about the struggle at [[Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church (Selma, Alabama)|Brown Chapel AME Church]] on January 2, 1965. He had been invited by local leaders to help their movement.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim64c.htm |title=The Selma Injunction |work=Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement |access-date=July 5, 2010 }}</ref>

Beginning in January 1965, SCLC and SNCC initiated a revived voting-rights campaign designed to focus national attention on the systematic denial of black voting rights in Alabama, and particularly in Selma. Over the next weeks, more than 3,000 African-Americans were arrested, and they suffered police violence and economic retaliation. [[Jimmie Lee Jackson]], who was unarmed, was killed in a café in nearby Marion after state police broke up a peaceful protest in the town.
[[File:Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama (27609419870).jpg|thumb|left|[[Edmund Pettus Bridge]], heading out of downtown Selma, across the Alabama River, towards Montgomery. Pettus was a Confederate [[brigadier general]], and later [[Grand Dragon]] of the Alabama [[Ku Klux Klan]].]]
[[File:Bloody Sunday-officers await demonstrators.jpeg|thumb|left|The Edmund Pettus Bridge, looking back towards Selma. Sheriff's deputies await the marchers on "Bloody Sunday".]]
[[File:Bloody Sunday-Alabama police attack.jpeg|thumb|300px|"Bloody Sunday", March 7, 1965. State troopers<ref>Personal knowledge</ref> attack marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge.]]

Activists planned a larger, more public march from [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Selma to the state capital of Montgomery]] to publicize their cause. It was initiated and organized by [[James Bevel]], SCLC's Director of Direct Action, who was directing SCLC's Selma Movement. This march represented one of the political and emotional peaks of the modern civil-rights movement. On March 7, 1965, approximately 600 civil rights marchers departed Selma on [[U.S. Highway 80]], heading east to the capital. After they passed over the crest of the [[Edmund Pettus Bridge]] and left the boundaries of the city, they were confronted by county sheriff's deputies and state troopers, who attacked them using [[tear gas]], horses and [[billy club]]s, and drove them back across the bridge. Governor [[George Wallace]] had vowed that the march would not be permitted. Seventeen marchers were hospitalized and 50 more were treated for lesser injuries. Because of the brutal attacks, this became known as [[Bloody Sunday (1965)|"Bloody Sunday".]] It was covered by national press and television news, reaching many American and international homes.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/cost.htm "The Cost", ''We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement''], National Park Service</ref>

Two days after the first march, on March 9, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. led a symbolic march over the bridge. By then local activists and residents had been joined by hundreds of protesters from across the country, including numerous clergy and nuns. White people made up one-third of the marchers. King pulled the marchers back from entering the county and having another confrontation with county and state forces. But that night, white minister [[James Reeb]], who had traveled to the city from Boston, was attacked and killed in Selma by members of the KKK.

King and other civil-rights leaders filed for court protection for a third, larger-scale march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital. King was also in touch with the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who arranged for protection for another march. [[Frank Minis Johnson|Frank Minis Johnson, Jr.]], the federal district court judge for the area who reviewed the injunction, decided in favor of the demonstrators, saying: 
{{blockquote|The law is clear that the right to petition one's government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups ... and these rights may be exercised by marching, even along public highways.|Frank Johnson}}

[[File:Selma to Montgomery Marches.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Selma to Montgomery marches]], March 1965.]]
On Sunday, March 21, 1965, approximately 3,200 marchers departed for Montgomery. Marching in the front row with King were Rev. [[Ralph Abernathy]], Rabbi [[Abraham Joshua Heschel]], Greek Orthodox Father Iakovos (later [[Archbishop Iakovos of America]]) and Roman Catholic nuns. They walked approximately 12 miles a day and slept in nearby fields. The federal government provided protection in the form of [[United States National Guard|National Guard]] and military troops. Thousands joined the march along the way. By the time the marchers reached the capital four days later, on March 25, their strength had swelled to around 25,000 people. Their moral campaign had attracted thousands from across the country.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.crmvet.org/disc/selma.htm |title=Selma & the March to Montgomery-A Discussion November–June, 2004–2005 |work=Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement |access-date=July 5, 2010 }}</ref>

The events at Selma helped increase public support for the cause; later that year the U.S. Congress passed the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], a bill introduced, supported and signed by President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. It provided for federal oversight and enforcement of voting rights for all citizens in state or jurisdictions where patterns of underrepresentation showed discrimination against certain populations such as ethnic minorities.

By March 1966, a year after the Selma-to-Montgomery marches, nearly 11,000 black people had registered to vote in Selma, where 12,000 white people were registered. Registration increased by November, when Wilson Baker was elected as Dallas County Sheriff to replace the notorious [[Jim Clark (sheriff)|Jim Clark]].

However, seven years later, black people had not been able to elect a candidate of their choice to the city council. The council's members were elected at-large by the entire city, and the white majority had managed to control the elections. Threatened with a lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act, the council voted to adopt a system of electing its ten members from single-member districts. After the change, five African-American Democrats were elected to the city council, including activist [[Frederick Douglas Reese]], who became a major power in the city; five white people were also elected to the council.<ref name="ari">[http://www.thenation.com/article/199217/fifty-years-after-march-selma-everything-and-nothing-has-changed Ari Berman, "Fifty Years After Bloody Sunday in Selma, Everything and Nothing Has Changed"], ''The Nation'', February 25, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2015</ref>

===Twenty-first century===
On [[Tornado outbreak of January 12, 2023#Selma, Alabama|January 12, 2023]], Selma was hit by [[2023 Selma tornado|a large and destructive EF2 tornado]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=herzmann |first=daryl |title=IEM :: PNS from NWS BMX |url=https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/p.php?pil=PNSBMX&e=202301132111 |access-date=January 14, 2023 |website=mesonet.agron.iastate.edu |language=en }}</ref> Many buildings were heavily damaged throughout the city and two people were injured.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://selmasun.com/news/updated-large-and-extremely-dangerous-tornado-in-selma/article_6b0ad79c-92a3-11ed-bf3f-efe2bc92c006.html |title=Updated: 'Large and extremely dangerous' tornado in Selma, damage reported |date=January 12, 2023 |website=Selma Sun }}</ref>

==Geography==

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the city has an area of {{convert|14.403|sqmi|km2}}, of which {{convert|13.809|sqmi|km2}} is land and {{convert|0.594|sqmi|km2}}, is water.<ref name="CenPopGazetteer2024"/>

===Climate===
{{Weather box
|location = Selma, Alabama (1991–2020, extremes 1896–present)
|single line = Y
|Jan record high F = 85
|Feb record high F = 85
|Mar record high F = 92
|Apr record high F = 95
|May record high F = 100
|Jun record high F = 108
|Jul record high F = 107
|Aug record high F = 105
|Sep record high F = 105
|Oct record high F = 103
|Nov record high F = 92
|Dec record high F = 85
|year record high F = 108
|Jan avg record high F = 74.3
|Feb avg record high F = 77.6
|Mar avg record high F = 83.2
|Apr avg record high F = 86.4
|May avg record high F = 92.3
|Jun avg record high F = 96.0
|Jul avg record high F = 97.8
|Aug avg record high F = 97.6
|Sep avg record high F = 94.6
|Oct avg record high F = 88.7
|Nov avg record high F = 81.2
|Dec avg record high F = 75.7
|year avg record high F = 98.8
|Jan high F = 59.2
|Feb high F = 63.3
|Mar high F = 71.1
|Apr high F = 78.0
|May high F = 85.3
|Jun high F = 91.1
|Jul high F = 93.2
|Aug high F = 93.1
|Sep high F = 88.7
|Oct high F = 79.7
|Nov high F = 69.2
|Dec high F = 61.0
|year high F = 77.7
|Jan mean F = 47.5
|Feb mean F = 51.3
|Mar mean F = 58.4
|Apr mean F = 65.0
|May mean F = 73.1
|Jun mean F = 80.0
|Jul mean F = 82.5
|Aug mean F = 82.2
|Sep mean F = 77.6
|Oct mean F = 67.3
|Nov mean F = 56.1
|Dec mean F = 49.5
|year mean F = 65.9
|Jan low F = 35.9
|Feb low F = 39.4
|Mar low F = 45.6
|Apr low F = 52.1
|May low F = 60.9
|Jun low F = 68.9
|Jul low F = 71.8
|Aug low F = 71.4
|Sep low F = 66.6
|Oct low F = 55.0
|Nov low F = 43.0
|Dec low F = 38.0
|year low F = 54.1
|Jan avg record low F = 20.5
|Feb avg record low F = 25.1
|Mar avg record low F = 30.2
|Apr avg record low F = 38.7
|May avg record low F = 47.9
|Jun avg record low F = 61.9
|Jul avg record low F = 66.8
|Aug avg record low F = 65.1
|Sep avg record low F = 54.4
|Oct avg record low F = 39.0
|Nov avg record low F = 28.9
|Dec avg record low F = 25.5
|year avg record low F = 18.3
|Jan record low F = 0
|Feb record low F = -5
|Mar record low F = 18
|Apr record low F = 26
|May record low F = 38
|Jun record low F = 42
|Jul record low F = 57
|Aug record low F = 56
|Sep record low F = 40
|Oct record low F = 27
|Nov record low F = 13
|Dec record low F = 5
|year record low F = -5
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation inch = 5.08
|Feb precipitation inch = 5.35
|Mar precipitation inch = 5.35
|Apr precipitation inch = 4.56
|May precipitation inch = 4.10
|Jun precipitation inch = 4.32
|Jul precipitation inch = 5.11
|Aug precipitation inch = 4.92
|Sep precipitation inch = 3.80
|Oct precipitation inch = 2.66
|Nov precipitation inch = 4.07
|Dec precipitation inch = 5.21
|year precipitation inch = 54.53
|Jan snow inch = 0.2
|Feb snow inch = 0.0
|Mar snow inch = 0.2
|Apr snow inch = 0.0
|May snow inch = 0.0
|Jun snow inch = 0.0
|Jul snow inch = 0.0
|Aug snow inch = 0.0
|Sep snow inch = 0.0
|Oct snow inch = 0.0
|Nov snow inch = 0.0
|Dec snow inch = 0.0
|year snow inch = 0.4
|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in
|Jan precipitation days = 8.9
|Feb precipitation days = 8.7
|Mar precipitation days = 8.3
|Apr precipitation days = 6.8
|May precipitation days = 6.9
|Jun precipitation days = 9.1
|Jul precipitation days = 9.8
|Aug precipitation days = 8.6
|Sep precipitation days = 5.7
|Oct precipitation days = 4.8
|Nov precipitation days = 6.4
|Dec precipitation days = 8.6
|year precipitation days = 92.6
|unit snow days = 0.1 in
|Jan snow days = 0.1
|Feb snow days = 0.0
|Mar snow days = 0.0
|Apr snow days = 0.0
|May snow days = 0.0
|Jun snow days = 0.0
|Jul snow days = 0.0
|Aug snow days = 0.0
|Sep snow days = 0.0
|Oct snow days = 0.0
|Nov snow days = 0.0
|Dec snow days = 0.0
|year snow days = 0.1
|source 1 = [[NOAA]]<ref name=NOAA>{{cite web |title=NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data |url=https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=bmx |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |access-date=June 7, 2021 |archive-date=July 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709225116/https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=bmx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=NOAAtxt>{{cite web |title=Station: Selma, AL |url=https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&startDate=0001-01-01&endDate=9996-12-31&stations=USC00017366&format=pdf |work=U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991–2020) |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |access-date=June 7, 2021 |archive-date=June 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607231222/https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&startDate=0001-01-01&endDate=9996-12-31&stations=USC00017366&format=pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1830= 401
|1840= 1199
|1850= 3073
|1860= 3177
|1870= 6484
|1880= 7529
|1890= 7622
|1900= 8713
|1910= 13649
|1920= 15589
|1930= 18012
|1940= 19834
|1950= 22840
|1960= 28385
|1970= 27379
|1980= 26684
|1990= 23755
|2000= 20512
|2010= 20872
|2020= 17971
|estyear=2023
|estimate=16666
|estref=<ref name="USCensusEst2023">{{cite web |title=City and Town Population Totals: 2020-2023 |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-total-cities-and-towns.html |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=March 7, 2025 |archive-date=July 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711040810/https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-total-cities-and-towns.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
|align-fn=center
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref>{{cite web |title=Decennial Census of Population and Housing |url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html |publisher=United States Census Bureau |website=www.census.gov |access-date=June 4, 2015 |archive-date=April 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426102944/http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html |url-status=live }}</ref><br>2020 Census<ref name="2020 Census (City)"/>
}}

As of the 2023 [[American Community Survey]], there are 7,796 estimated households in Selma with an average of 2.19 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $32,184. Approximately 28.3% of the city's population lives at or below the [[Poverty in the United States|poverty line]]. Selma has an estimated 52.0% employment rate, with 19.0% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 88.3% holding a high school diploma.

The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (97.2%), Spanish (0.4%), Indo-European (0.7%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.3%), and Other (1.5%).

The median age in the city was 39.4 years.

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+'''Selma, Alabama – racial and ethnic composition'''<br><small>{{nobold|''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.''}}</small>
! Race / ethnicity <small>(''NH = non-Hispanic'')</small>
! Pop. 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>{{Cite web |title=P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Selma city, Alabama |url=https://data.census.gov/table?g=160XX00US0169120&tid=DECENNIALSF12000.P004 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=March 7, 2025 }}</ref>
! Pop. 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>{{Cite web |title=P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Selma city, Alabama |url=https://data.census.gov/table?q=p2&g=160XX00US0169120&tid=DECENNIALPL2010.P2 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=March 7, 2025 }}</ref>
! {{partial|Pop. 2020}}<ref name=2020CensusP2>{{Cite web |title=P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Selma city, Alabama |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=p2&g=160XX00US0169120&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=March 7, 2025 }}</ref>
! % 2000
! % 2010
! {{partial|% 2020}}
|-
| [[Non-Hispanic or Latino whites|White]] alone (NH)
| 5,875
| 3,716
| style='background: #ffffe6; |2,573
| 28.64%
| 17.80%
| style='background: #ffffe6; |14.32%
|-
| [[Non-Hispanic or Latino African Americans|Black or African American]] alone (NH)
| 14,242
| 16,599
| style='background: #ffffe6; |14,757
| 69.43%
| 79.53%
| style='background: #ffffe6; |82.12%
|-
| Native American or [[Alaska Native]] alone (NH)
| 19
| 33
| style='background: #ffffe6; |26
| 0.09%
| 0.16%
| style='background: #ffffe6; |0.14%
|-
| [[Asian Americans|Asian]] alone (NH)
| 113
| 121
| style='background: #ffffe6; |107
| 0.55%
| 0.58%
| style='background: #ffffe6; |0.60%
|-
| [[Native Hawaiian]] or [[Pacific Islander Americans|Pacific Islander]] alone (NH)
| 2
| 5
| style='background: #ffffe6; |6
| 0.01%
| 0.02%
| style='background: #ffffe6; |0.03%
|-
| [[Race and ethnicity in the United States census|Other race]] alone (NH)
| 11
| 11
| style='background: #ffffe6; |14
| 0.05%
| 0.05%
| style='background: #ffffe6; |0.08%
|-
| [[Multiracial Americans|Mixed race or multiracial]] (NH)
| 112
| 146
| style='background: #ffffe6; |354
| 0.55%
| 0.70%
| style='background: #ffffe6; |1.97%
|-
| [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] (any race)
| 138
| 125
| style='background: #ffffe6; |134
| 0.67%
| 0.60%
| style='background: #ffffe6; |0.75%
|-
| '''Total'''
| '''20,512'''
| '''20,872'''
| style='background: #ffffe6; |'''17,971'''
| '''100.00%'''
| '''100.00%'''
| style='background: #ffffe6; |'''100.00%'''
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]], there were 17,971 people, 7,568 households, and 4,574 families residing in the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=US Census Bureau, Table P16: Household Type |url=https://data.census.gov/table?q=Selma%20city,%20Alabama%20p16&y=2020 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=March 7, 2025 }}</ref> The population density was {{convert|1301.4|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|1}}. There were 8,946 housing units at an average density of {{convert|647.8|/sqmi|/km2|1}}. The racial makeup of the city was 14.43% [[White (U.S. census)|White]], 82.39% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.17% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 0.60% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.04% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 0.25% from some other races and 2.13% from two or more races. [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] people of any race were 0.75% of the population.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How many people live in Selma city, Alabama |work=USA Today |url=https://data.usatoday.com/census/total-population/total-population-change/selma-city-alabama/160-0169120/ |publisher=[[USA Today]] |access-date=March 8, 2025 }}</ref>

===2010 census===
As of the [[2010 United States census|2010 census]], there were 20,872 people, 8,086 households, and _ families residing in the city. The population density was {{convert|1503.1|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|1}}. There were 9,429 housing units at an average density of {{convert|682.8|/sqmi|/km2|1}}. The racial makeup of the city was 17.92% [[White (U.S. census)|White]], 79.87% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.16% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 0.58% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.02% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 0.12% from some other races and 0.75% from two or more races. [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] people of any race were 0.60% of the population.

===2000 census===
As of the [[2000 United States census|2000 census]], there were 20,512 people, 8,196 households, and 5,343 families besiding in the city. The population density was {{convert|1479.6|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|1}}. There were 9,264 housing units at an average density of {{convert|668.3|/sqmi|/km2|1}}. The racial makeup of the city was 28.77% [[White (U.S. census)|White]], 70.68% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.10% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 0.56% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.01% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 0.22% from some other races and 0.66% from two or more races. [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] people of any race were 0.67% of the population.

There were 8,196 households, out of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 34.2% were married couples living together, 27.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.10.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.3% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 78.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 72.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $21,261, and the median income for a family was $28,345. Males had a median income of $29,769 versus $18,129 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,369. About 26.9% of families and 31.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.8% of those under age 18 and 28.0% of those age 65 or over.

==Economy==
Industries in Selma include [[International Paper]], [[Bush Hog]] (agricultural equipment), Plantation Patterns, American Apparel, and Peerless Pump Company (LaBour), Renasol, and Hyundai.{{Citation needed|date=January 2017}}

The city and rural region have struggled economically, as agriculture does not provide enough jobs. There was a downturn after restructuring in industry that had done well into the 1960s.<!-- Moved here from Selma Voting Rights Movement section. -->

[[civil rights movement|Civil rights]] tourism has become a new source of business.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Andrew |last1=Lichtenstein |first2=Alex |last2=Lichtenstein |title=Marked Unmarked Remembered. A Geography of American Memory |publisher=[[West Virginia University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=9781943665891 }}</ref>{{rp|146}}

==Arts and culture==
===Arts===
[[File:Sturdivant Hall 001.jpg|thumb|Sturdivant Hall, completed in 1856 and now a historic house museum.]]
[[File:Edmund Pettus Bridge 03.jpg|thumb|The [[Edmund Pettus Bridge]] over the [[Alabama River]] in Selma, site of some of the events of [[Selma to Montgomery marches#First March: "Bloody Sunday"|"Bloody Sunday"]] during the Civil Rights Movement.]]
[[File:Edmund Pettus Bridge - Selma - Alabama - USA - 01 (33594657054).jpg|thumb|Another view of the [[Edmund Pettus Bridge]].]]
Cultural events are held at the Performing Arts Center, and the Selma Art Guild Gallery.

===Museums and points of interest===
Museums in the city include [[Sturdivant Hall]], the [[National Voting Rights Museum]], Historic Water Avenue, Martin Luther King, Jr. Street Historic Walking Tour, Old Depot Museum, Joe Calton Bates Children Education and History Museum, [[Joseph T. Smitherman Historic Building|Vaughan-Smitherman Museum]] and Heritage Village.

Selma boasts the state's largest contiguous [[Historic district (United States)|historic district]], with more than 1,250 structures identified as contributing. Area attractions include the Old Town Historic District, Old Live Oak Cemetery, Paul M. Grist State Park, and [[Cahaba, Alabama|Old Cahawba Archaeological Park]].
[[File:Edmund Pettus Bridge over Alabama River.jpg|thumb|Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River]]

The complex history is reflected in naming and monuments as well. Highway 80, which runs east and west through Selma and the state has reflected this in naming patterns. In 1920 the east-west Highway 80 was designated as part of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway. In 1977 US 80 was named Givhan Parkway in honor of the long-serving state senator [[Walter C. Givhan]], a segregationist to the end. In 1996 it was designated as part of the 'National Civil Rights Trail' by President Bill Clinton and is administered by the National Park Service. In 2000 sections of Highway 80 leading into Selma were renamed in honor of leaders in the Selma Voting Rights Movement: [[F.D. Reese]], [[Marie Foster]], and [[Amelia Boynton Robinson|Amelia Boynton]].<ref name="david"/>

As part of its Civil War history, a monument to native [[Nathan Forrest|Nathan Bedford Forrest]], a Confederate General, was installed in Old Live Oak Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shameful! Selma To Build Monument Honoring KKK Founder |url=http://newsone.com/2032022/nathan-bedford-forrest-kkk/ |website=Newsone.ocm |date=August 22, 2012 |access-date=August 27, 2017 }}</ref> It was torn down in 2012, reflecting the continuing controversy about him. In August 2012, plans were announced to build a larger monument, more resistant to vandalism, but many African Americans object to it because of his established history as a postwar leader with the KKK and his earlier involvement in the massacre of black Union troops at [[Fort Pillow, Tennessee|Fort Pillow]].<ref name="david">[http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/articles/2015-02-on-the-road-to-selma-a-jim-crow-relic David J. Krajicek, "On the Road to Selma, a Jim Crow Relic"], ''The Crime Report'', February 2, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Monument to Civil War general, Ku Klux Klan leader triggers controversy |first=U.S. |last=News |url=https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2012/08/22/13415785-monument-to-civil-war-general-ku-klux-klan-leader-triggers-controversy |website=U.S. News |access-date=August 27, 2017 }}</ref><ref>The Confederacy's Greatest Cavalryman by Brian Steel Wills</ref>

===Library===
[[File:Selma December 2018 18 (Selma-Dallas County Public Library).jpg|thumb|Selma-Dallas County Public Library]]
The Selma-Dallas County Public Library serves the city and the region with a collection of 76,751 volumes. It was established as a [[Carnegie library]] in 1904, receiving matching funds for construction. The {{convert|25000|sqft|sqm}} library is in downtown Selma.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Selma Dallas County Public Library Main Page |url=http://www.selmalibrary.org/ |work=selmalibrary.org |access-date=July 5, 2010 }}</ref>

==Government==
[[File:Downtown Facades - Selma - Alabama - USA (33594658004).jpg|thumb|Downtown Selma facades.]]
[[File:Main Street Facades - Selma - Alabama - USA (33594656114).jpg|thumb|Facades along Main Street in Selma.]]
The city government of Selma consists of a mayor and a nine-member [[city council]], elected from [[single-member districts]]. The current mayor is [[James Perkins Jr.]] The city council members are: William Warren Young, City Council President; Troy Harvill, Ward 1; Christie Thomas, Ward 2; Clay Carmichael, Ward 3; Lesia James, Ward 4; Samuel L. Randolph, Ward 5; Atkin Jemison, Ward 6; Jannie Thomas, Ward 7; Michael Johnson, Ward 8.

==Transportation==
* [[Image:US 80.svg|25px]] [[U.S. Route 80 in Alabama|U.S. Highway 80]]
* [[Image:Alabama 14.svg|25px]] [[State Route 14 (Alabama)|State Route 14]]
* [[Image:Alabama 22.svg|25px]] [[State Route 22 (Alabama)|State Route 22]]
* [[Image:Alabama 41.svg|25px]] [[State Route 41 (Alabama)|State Route 41]]
* [[Image:Alabama 140.svg|25px]] [[State Route 140 (Alabama)|State Route 140]]
* [[Image:Alabama 219.svg|25px]] [[State Route 219 (Alabama)|State Route 219]]

===Airports===
* [[Craig Field (Alabama)|Craig Field]] (SEM), located {{convert|4|nmi|mi km|spell=in}} southeast of the central business district of Selma. It is a Class D airport, with a non-federal contract control tower staffed by students and staff of Advanced ATC.

==Education==
===Colleges and universities===
Colleges in Selma include [[Selma University]] and [[Wallace Community College Selma]], which is located at the edge of the city limits near Valley Grande, Alabama. [[Concordia College Alabama]], a private Lutheran university, operated in Selma from 1922 to 2018. [[Daniel Payne College]], an institution of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, operated in Selma from 1889 to 1922.

===Public===
[[Selma City Schools]] operates the city's public schools. The public [[High school (North America)|high school]] is [[Selma High School]]. Middle schools include R.B. Hudson Middle School and the School of Discovery. The city has eight elementary schools.

===Private===
Selma has four private [[K–12 (education)|K–12]] schools: [[John T. Morgan Academy]], founded in 1965, Meadowview Christian School, [[Ellwood Christian Academy]], and Cathedral Christian Academy.

==Media==
{{See also|List of television stations in Alabama|List of radio stations in Alabama}}
Selma is served by the [[Template:Montgomery TV|Montgomery-Selma television]] [[media market|Designated Market Area (DMA)]]. [[Charter Communications]] provides cable television service. [[DirecTV]] and [[Dish Network]] provide [[direct broadcast satellite]] television including both local and national channels to area residents.

===Radio stations===
* [[WALX]] 100.9 FM ([[Classic Hits]])
* [[Alabama Public Radio|WAPR]] 88.3 FM (Educational)
* [[WAQU]] 91.1 FM ([[Christian radio|Christian]])
* [[WDXX]] 100.1 FM ([[Country music|country]])
* [[WHBB]] 1490 AM ([[News radio|news]]/[[Talk radio|Talk]]/[[Gospel music|Gospel]])
* [[WJAM]] 1340 AM/96.3 FM ([[Urban adult contemporary]])
* [[WRNF]] 89.5 FM ([[Religious broadcasting|Religious]])
* [[WBFZ]] 105.3 FM ([Gospel Blues R&B Talk])

===Television stations===
* [[WAKA]] (Channel 8) [[CBS]]
* [[WBIH]] (Channel 29) [[Independent station|Independent]]

===Newspaper===
* ''[[Selma Times-Journal]]'' (daily)
* Selma Sun (weekly)

==Notable people==
{{Main|List of people from Selma, Alabama}}
* [[Zinn Beck]] – [[Major League Baseball]] player; managed the first [[Selma Cloverleafs]] from 1928 to 1930, winning the [[Southeastern League]] pennant in 1930
* [[Ann Bedsole]] – [[Alabama House of Representatives|Alabama State Representative]] (1979), first female member of the [[Alabama Senate]] (1983)
* [[Patricia Swift Blalock]] – librarian and [[civil rights movement]] activist
* [[Jo Bonner]] – [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] for Alabama (2003)
* [[Frances Hawks Cameron Burnett]] – diplomat's wife, poet
* [[Edgar Cayce]] – psychic who worked and lived in Selma
* [[J.L. Chestnut]] – author, attorney, and [[civil rights movement]] activist
* [[Jim Clark (sheriff)|Jim Clark]] – Dallas County Sheriff [[Selma to Montgomery marches|leading the attacks]] on citizens during the 1964–1965 [[Voter registration in the United States|voter registration campaign]] in Selma
* [[Mattie Moss Clark]] – Gospel music artist & choir director, mother/founder of [[The Clark Sisters]]
* [[Annie Lee Cooper]] – [[civil rights movement]] activist
* [[Charles Davis (basketball, born 1984)|Charles Davis]] – member of the [[Azerbaijan national basketball team]]
* [[Howard W. Gilmore]] – [[World War II]] [[submarine]] commander who posthumously received the [[Medal of Honor]]
* [[Jimmy Gresham]] – [[soul music]]ian
* [[Gunnar Henderson]]- MLB Player for the Baltimore Orioles
* [[Mia Hamm]] – [[Women's United Soccer Association]] player, [[Football at the Summer Olympics#Women|Olympic gold medallist]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Mia Hamm {{!}} Biography & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mia-Hamm |website=Britannica |access-date=December 17, 2022 |language=en }}</ref>
* [[Jeremiah Haralson]] – slave, farmer and politician who lived here from 1859; he was the first African American from the state to be elected an [[Alabama House of Representatives|Alabama State Representative]] (1870), [[Alabama Senate|Alabama State Senator]] (1872), and [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] (1875)
* [[Candy Harris]] – [[Major League Baseball]] player
* [[Hunter Haynes]], inventor and early black filmmaker<ref>{{cite web |title=Haynes, Hunter C |url=https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/hunter-c-haynes/ }}</ref>
* [[Sam Hobbs]] – [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] (1935)
* [[Katharine Hopkins Chapman]] (1870/72/73-1930) - author and historian
* [[Eunice W. Johnson]] – founder and director of the ''[[Ebony Fashion Fair|Ebony]]''[[Ebony Fashion Fair|Fashion Fair]]
* [[Michael Johnson (defensive end)|Michael Johnson]] – [[National Football League]] player
* [[Ralph Jordan|James Ralph "Shug" Jordan]] – head football coach of [[Auburn University]]
* [[William Rufus King]] – Vice President of the United States (1853), [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] (1844), [[List of ambassadors of the United States to France|U.S. Minister to France]] (1848)
* [[Terry Leach]] – [[Major League Baseball]] player, namesake of Leach Field at Bloch Park
* [[Bogart Leashore]] – social worker, sociologist, dean of [[Hunter College]] school of social work (1991–2003)<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Inge |first=Victor |date=July 1, 2007 |title=Educator Dr. Bogart Leashore dies |pages=1 |work=The Selma Times-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-selma-times-journal-obituary-for-bog/134364033/ |access-date=October 30, 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030234359/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-selma-times-journal-obituary-for-bog/134364033/ |archive-date=October 30, 2023 }}</ref>
* [[Larry Marks (boxer)|Larry Marks]] – professional boxer
* [[William Clarence Matthews]] – baseball player, first head football coach for [[Tuskegee University]], lawyer, and [[civil rights movement]] activist
* [[Pat McHugh]] – [[National Football League]] player
* [[Darrio Melton]] – [[Alabama House of Representatives|Alabama State Representative]] (2010), Mayor of Selma (2016)
* [[John Melvin (naval officer)|John Melvin]] – first American naval officer to die in [[World War I]]
* [[Olan Mills Sr.]] – photographer and founder of [[Olan Mills]]
* [[Johnny Moore (musician)|Johnny Moore]] – lead singer for [[The Drifters]]
* [[Ben Obomanu]] – [[National Football League]] player
* [[Shwetak Patel]] – [[computer scientist]] and entrepreneur
* [[James Perkins, Jr.]] – first African American mayor of Selma (2000)
* [[Edmund Pettus]] – [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]], Brigadier General in [[Confederate States Army]]
* [[Minnie Bruce Pratt]] – educator, activist, and essayist
* [[Cal Ramsey]] – [[National Basketball Association]] player
* [[Frederick D. Reese]] – [[civil rights movement]] leader
* [[Amelia Boynton Robinson]] – [[civil rights movement]] leader
* [[Richard Scrushy]] – founder of [[HealthSouth]]
* [[Jeff Sessions]] – [[United States Attorney General]], [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] for Alabama
* [[Terri Sewell]] – [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] for Alabama
* [[Lachavious Simmons]] – [[National Football League]] player
* [[Benjamin S. Turner]] – first African American [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] from Alabama (1871)
* [[Hattie Hooker Wilkins]] – first woman elected to the [[Alabama Legislature]] (in its [[Alabama House of Representatives]], 1923)
* [[Kathryn Tucker Windham]] – storyteller, author, photographer, and journalist
* [[Asher HaVon]] - singer, winner of [[NBC]]'s ''[[The Voice (American TV series)|The Voice]]''

==Sports==
Selma's [[Bloch Park]] was home to [[Southeastern League of Professional Baseball]] club the [[Selma Cloverleafs]].

==In popular culture==
* [[Selma (film)|''Selma'']], a 2014 award-winning film, features a filmed-on-location reenactment of the events surrounding the 1965 [[Selma to Montgomery marches]] on "Bloody Sunday".
* Selma was featured in the 1999 Disney television movie ''[[Selma, Lord, Selma]]'' for its historical significance in the [[Civil Rights Movement]] on "Bloody Sunday".<ref>{{cite web |publisher=IMDb |title="The Wonderful World of Disney" Selma, Lord, Selma (TV Episode 1999) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171728/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525141938/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171728/ |archive-date=May 25, 2022 }}</ref>
* 1968's [[The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (film)|''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'']] was filmed in Selma.
* [[Blue Sky (1994 film)|''Blue Sky'']] was filmed at [[Craig Field (Alabama)|Craig Field]], the former Air Force base located at the edge of the city. The 1994 film employed many of the people of Selma as extras, including local high school marching bands.
* ''[[Body Snatchers (1993 film)|Body Snatchers]]'' film was partially filmed at [[Craig Field (Alabama)|Craig Field]].
* Selma is mentioned in the 1965 song "[[Eve of Destruction (song)|Eve of Destruction]]" by [[P. F. Sloan]]
* Referenced in [[Charles Mingus]]'s 1965 composition "[[It Was a Lonely Day in Selma, Alabama]]".

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |title=Activists Confront Hate in Selma, Ala. |magazine=[[Intelligence Report]] |date=Winter 2008 |first=David |last=Holthouse |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2008/activists-confront-hate-selma-ala }}
* {{cite news |title=Selma, 50 years after march, remains a city divided |first=Matthew |last=Teague |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 6, 2015 |url=http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-selma-20150307-story,amp.html |access-date=January 2, 2018 }}
* {{cite book |title=Why the vote wasn't enough for Selma |first=Karlyn |last=Forner |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780822370000 |quote=Forner illustrates how voting rights failed to offset decades of systematic disfranchisement and unequal investment in African American communities. ... At the end of the twentieth century, Selma's celebrated political legacy looked worlds apart from the dismal economic realities of the region. Forner demonstrates that voting rights are only part of the story in the black freedom struggle and that economic justice is central to achieving full citizenship. }}

==External links==
{{Portal|United States|Alabama}}
{{Commons category}}
{{EB1911 poster|Selma}}
* [https://selma-al.gov/ City of Selma – official website]
* [https://www.selmalibrary.org/ Selma-Dallas County Public Library]

{{Dallas County, Alabama}}
{{Alabama county seats}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Selma, Alabama| ]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1820]]
[[Category:1820 establishments in Alabama]]
[[Category:Cities in Alabama]]
[[Category:Cities in Dallas County, Alabama]]
[[Category:Micropolitan areas of Alabama]]
[[Category:County seats in Alabama]]