“A martyred hero of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity”

Dr. Martin Luther King,  3 March 1965.

On this day in 1965, Civil Rights activist, protester, and Church deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson was beaten and shot when taking part in a peaceful march for voting rights in Marion, Alabama.

Jackson was shot in the stomach at close range by Alabama state trooper James Bonard Fowler while trying to protect his mother from being beaten. He died from his wounds in hospital eight days later on 26 February. Jimmie Lee Jackson was 26 years old.

Jackson’s killing inspired the Selma to Montgomery marches one  month later, which in turn led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.