Ford Hunger March
March 7, 1932
Dearborn, MI
Picture from the 1932 Ford Hunger March massacre, originally posted at the Walter P. Reuther Library.
On this day in 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, in frigid weather, 3000 to 5000 unemployed auto workers march on the Ford Motor Company’s sprawling River Rouge factory complex just outside Detroit, inspired by Communist speeches the day before. When police fire tear gas and guns, demonstrators begin throwing rocks. Fire hoses are turned on the marchers. Four workers are shot to death by police and security guards employed by Ford. More than 60 people, including 25 police, are injured. Hospitalized demonstrators are chained to their beds until the mayor of Detroit speaks out.
Henry Ford signs his first labor agreement with a union, the United Auto Workers, nine years later.
Martin Luther King Jr. leads a protest march, Atlanta, GA
Selma to Montgomery marches
March 7, 1965
Selma to Montgomery, AL
In the 1960s, poll taxes, literacy tests, and outright intimidation kept Black Alabamans from voting — fewer than 5% of Blacks were registered in many majority Black counties.
On this day in 1965, 600 peaceful marchers set out from Selma toward the capital, Montgomery, demanding voting rights. At the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state troopers and a sheriff's posse on horseback meet them with clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas. Amelia Boynton Robinson is beaten unconscious; a photo of her body on the pavement runs on front pages worldwide. President Johnson addresses Congress eight days later, invoking the anthem, "We Shall Overcome." The Voting Rights Act passes five months later.
John Lewis, whose skull was fractured that day, goes on to represent Georgia in Congress for 33 years.