ATLANTA , Georgia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The Rev. James Orange , a civil rights activist whose 1965 jailing sparked a fatal protest that ultimately led to the famed Selma-to-Montgomery march and the Voting Rights Act , died Saturday at Atlanta 's Crawford Long Hospital , the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said in a statement . He was 65 . Orange was a native of Birmingham , Alabama , `` who resided in southwest Atlanta for four decades while fighting the good fight for equality and social justice for all mankind , '' said the SCLC , a civil rights organization . Orange was arrested and jailed in Perry County , Alabama , in 1965 on charges of disorderly conduct and contributing to the delinquency of minors for enlisting students to aid in voting rights drives . As rumors spread that Orange would be lynched , civil rights activists organized a march to support him . However , the marchers clashed with Alabama state troopers during the February 18 demonstration , and a young black man , Jimmie Lee Jackson , was shot in the stomach . `` I could hear the singing and the commotion , '' Orange told CNN last year . `` Once the tear gas was flying and the shots started , I could n't tell what was going on . '' Jackson , 26 , died eight days later . Witnesses said Jackson 's grandfather , who was active in the voting rights movement , had been beaten by troopers , and Jackson was trying to get him to the hospital . The anger resulting from Jackson 's death led civil rights leaders , including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. , to organize the Selma-to-Montgomery , Alabama , voting rights march . The first attempt at that march was broken up by club-wielding state troopers and sheriff 's deputies , a melee that became known as `` Bloody Sunday . '' `` Jimmie 's death is the reason that Bloody Sunday took place , '' Orange said . `` Had he not died , there would never have been a Bloody Sunday . '' On the marchers ' third attempt , in March , they made it to Montgomery . President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law in August 1965 . In May 2007 , a former Alabama state trooper , James B. Fowler , now 74 , was indicted in Jackson 's shooting , one of several cases involving the deaths of civil rights activists that prosecutors have revived in recent years . Fowler has claimed he shot Jackson in self-defense , but Orange and Elijah Rollins , who was upstairs at a nearby cafe when the shooting took place , last year disputed claims that protesters were throwing rocks and bottles at police . `` Not one bottle or brick was thrown back at the troopers , '' said Orange , adding that film and a Justice Department report back that up . He said he was glad Jackson 's case had `` never been forgotten . '' Orange was a project coordinator at the SCLC from 1965 to 1970 , then later became a regional coordinator with the AFL-CIO in Atlanta , the SCLC said . Since 1995 , he had served as the founder and general coordinator for the M.L. King Jr. . March Committee-Africa/African American Renaissance Committee , Inc. , which coordinated commemorative events honoring King and also promoted industry and commerce among Atlanta , the United States and South Africa . Orange is survived by his wife , five children and two grandchildren , the SCLC said . Funeral arrangements were incomplete Saturday . E-mail to a friend