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24 Strategy What the law enforcement officers and state troopers did not know was that the staff had not planned to go all the way to Montgomery that day, only over the bridge, then stop to kneel and pray, and then return to brown Chapel. but once upon the bridge, they saw the confrontation that would happen. There were state troopers under Al Lingo, Sheriff Jim Clark and his mounted vigilantes, and hordes ofonlookersjeering withallkindsofugly language.Canyouimagine what fearmusthaveengulfedthemarchers,thinkingtheyweresurely facing injury and death? Just think of the courage and dedication it took to keep on walking over the span of that bridge, not knowing what would happen next. Word had spread in the white community that the march would indeed take place. Churches must have let the congregations out early for so many people to be there and ready. i guess they could not standtoseeapeacefulgroupofnegroeswalkingthrough“theirstreets” and over “their bridge” just asking for the right to cast a ballot to decide who should govern them and the laws under which they should live. The marchers had tear gas thrown at them, and law officials on horseback with electric cattle prods set to kicking and beating, Strategy / 113 knocking down and trampling people with the hooves of horses, and turning on the fire hoses and hitting the marchers randomly. blood was flowing, people were down, eyes damaged because of the gas, limbs broken, heads smashed, yet somehow all managed to get back to brown Chapel. The marchers did not use the route they had taken to reach the bridge to get back to the church; they used any street that would get them back safely. Thank God for the media that day, for they saw, recorded, and taped the events and immediately sent the reports to their broadcast outlets so that it could be seen on the Sunday evening news by the entire world. My husband and other black doctors in Selma spent the afternoon patching up the injured. My uncle, fred Williams, who owned a funeral home, provided his hearses for use as ambulances to pick up the tear-gassed and beaten marchers along the route of the march. Sully, my cousin Dr. William b. Dinkins, and Dr. eddie Maddox were in the back of the hearses prepared with emergency medical supplies for all who needed it. one person who needed care on that afternoon was Mrs. Marie foster, my husband’s sister. After arriving at Good Samaritan Hospital (the only facility in town that would treat the injured black marchers) with some of the injured, Sully found Marieonagurney inthehospitalhallway bleedingfromthehead.He quickly saw to her wounds and found out that she and Mrs. Amelia boynton had been in the third or fourth row in the line of marchers. both Marie and Mrs. boynton were part of a local civil rights group known as the “Courageous eight.” Wordpassedthroughthecity very quickly.everytelephoneinthe city jumped off the hook. Did you see the evening news? Do you believe what you saw? How can white people hate so much? i was sur- 114 / Chapter 24 prised to learn nobody had been killed. no matter where you were or what you may have been doing, all able bodies headed to brown Chapel. i had seen a lot of people at my church previously, but that night i truly believe 80 percent of all black people in Selma and the surrounding area showed up at the church. And the other 20 percent came to the house by the side of the road! When i returned home i do believe reporters must have come up from the ground like mushrooms, given the short amount of time it took them to reach the house. Dr. King was still in Atlanta but was quickly made aware of what was happening in Selma. i told reporters that Dr. King was not here over and over again. Didn’t they realize if he had been in Selma he would have been at the church or at the hospital? i felt they thought i was hiding him. by now i was getting angry, maybe not so much with the reporters but i was very upset over the events of the day. My emotions started to get raw, confused, and rush through my system. The doorbell rang constantly and the telephone was ringing off the hook. i even considered putting the phone in the toilet, but with my luck it would continue to ring even in there! i am glad i didn...

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