Jimmie Lee Jackson

Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot and killed by an Alabama state trooper in 1965; his death inspired a civil rights demonstration that led to the Voting Rights Act.
Who Was Jimmie Lee Jackson?
Born in Alabama in 1938, Jimmie Lee Jackson became part of the Civil Rights Movement as a young man. After participating in a peaceful protest in Alabama in February 1965, he was shot by a state trooper. He died a few days later. His death inspired a voting rights march; the violence at that protest—known as "Bloody Sunday"—made more Americans favor civil rights, and made it possible to pass 1965's Voting Rights Act.

Early Life
On December 16, 1938, Jimmie Lee Jackson was born in Marion, Alabama, a small town located near Selma. After fighting in the Vietnam War and spending time in Indiana, he returned to his hometown. There, he made about $6 a day as a laborer and woodcutter.

Jackson became a church deacon—the youngest one at his Baptist church—and fathered a daughter. Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, he also tried to vote for the first time in his life. He made several attempts to register as a voter, but never got past the many hurdles that had been set up to keep African Americans from casting ballots.

Shooting and Death
On February 18, 1965, Jackson took part in a peaceful night march in Marion, held to protest the arrest of James Orange, a field secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. However, even nonviolent demonstrations were opposed by the segregationists who held power in Alabama. That night, the town's streetlights were turned off; under the cover of darkness, police and state troopers attacked the protesters with clubs, sending them fleeing in different directions.

Still pursued by officers, Jackson and other demonstrators went into a restaurant called Mack's Café. There, Jackson was shot in the stomach by James Bonard Fowler, a state trooper. Witnesses recounted that Jackson had been protecting his mother and 82-year-old grandfather from the troopers. Fowler, who didn't admit to the killing until a 2005 interview with The Anniston Star, claimed he had been acting in self-defense, and was trying to keep Jackson from grabbing his gun. “I don’t remember how many times I pulled the trigger, but I think I just pulled it once, but I might have pulled it three times,” Fowler told The Anniston Star. “I don’t remember. I didn’t know his name at the time, but his name was Jimmie Lee Jackson. He weren’t dead. He didn’t die that night. But I heard about a month later that he died.”