After four days and 54 miles, the Selma to Montgomery March concluded as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., alongside John Lewis, Coretta Scott King, and thousands of civil rights activists, arrived at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery. The march protested voter suppression and racial injustice, drawing national attention and contributing to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Debi Thomas, who would go on to become the first African American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics, was born on this day in Poughkeepsie, New York. At the 1988 Calgary Olympics, she earned the bronze in women’s figure skating. Thomas also became the 1986 World Champion and a two-time U.S. national champion, breaking barriers in a traditionally white-dominated sport.

Aretha Franklin was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of renowned Black minister Rev. C.L. Franklin. Raised in a deeply spiritual and musical household, she began singing gospel in her father’s church. By age 18, she launched her professional career, bringing her gospel roots into the rhythm & blues world. With unmatched vocal power and emotional depth, Aretha became an icon of soul music, civil rights, and cultural pride—earning her the title “Queen of Soul.”

Ida B. Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931), a fearless anti-lynching crusader, journalist, and suffragist, passed away on this day. Born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells lost her parents and a brother to yellow fever at age 14. She went on to attend Rust College and Fisk University and became a teacher. In the 1880s, she famously refused to give up her seat in a segregated train car and successfully sued the railroad. Writing under the pen name “Iola,” she exposed the horrors of lynching and racial violence, becoming one of the most influential voices for justice in American history.

Nine African American teenagers, known as the Scottsboro Boys, were falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama. Despite weak evidence, they were quickly convicted by all-white juries. Their case became a defining moment in American legal history, exposing deep racial injustices. After years of appeals, retrials, and national protest, their struggle led to landmark rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court affirming the right to adequate legal counsel and the inclusion of African Americans on juries.

The American Liberian Commission, appointed by President William H. Taft, issued a report recommending financial aid to Liberia and the establishment of a U.S. Navy coaling station in the country. The move reflected U.S. geopolitical interest in Liberia, a nation founded by formerly enslaved African Americans, and marked a significant moment in early 20th-century Black international relations and diplomacy.

Samori Touré, founder of the Wassoulou (Wasulu) Empire in West Africa, signed the Treaty of Bisandugu with French colonial forces. Intended as a diplomatic effort to maintain his empire’s autonomy, the treaty marked a temporary truce amid growing tensions. Despite the agreement, conflict soon resumed, and Touré would lead prolonged resistance against French colonization, becoming one of Africa’s most renowned anti-colonial leaders.

On this day, a group of citizens in Kentucky filed a formal petition challenging the violent acts of the Ku Klux Klan. Amid growing Klan terror during Reconstruction, the petition reflected local resistance to white supremacist violence and contributed to federal efforts to suppress the Klan through legislation, such as the Ku Klux Klan Act passed later that year. This act of civic courage underscored the ongoing fight for justice and civil rights in the post-Civil War South.