The Selma to Montgomery marches were part of a broader voting rights movement underway in writing.
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches , held in 1965 , along the 54-mile ( 87 km ) highway from Selma , Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery . The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote , in defiance of segregationist repression , and were part of a broader voting rights movement underway in Selma and throughout the American South . By highlighting racial injustice , they contributed to passage that year of the Voting Rights Act , a landmark federal achievement of the Civil Rights Movement .