Selma

Selma, city, seat (1866) of Dallas county, central Alabama, U.S. It lies on the Alabama River about 50 miles (80 km) west of Montgomery. The site was first recorded on a map in 1732 as Ecor Bienville; it was later called Moore’s Bluff, for a settler who arrived about 1815. It was renamed about 1819 by William Rufus King, an organizer of the town, for one of Scottish poet James Macpherson’s Ossian poems. A Confederate supply depot during the American Civil War, it was burned by Union troops after being captured in battle (April 2, 1865).

In March 1965 Selma was the centre of an African American voter-registration drive led by Martin Luther King, Jr. Local violence against civil rights activists—culminating in an attack by police on demonstrators crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the river on March 7 (known as “Bloody Sunday”) and then in the murder of Boston clergyman James J. Reeb—led to a massive nonviolent protest march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital. The route of the march was designated the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in 1996. The National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, located near the bridge, commemorates the struggle that resulted in passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Agriculture (including cattle raising and catfish farming), timber, and manufacturing (including paper, farm machinery, automotive parts, and candy) contribute to the economy. The city is the seat of Selma University (1878), Wallace Community College Selma (1963), and Concordia College (1922). Sturdivant Hall (1853) is one of several surviving antebellum buildings. The Bridge Crossing Jubilee in March commemorates the voting rights march. Paul M. Grist State Park and the western segment of Talladega National Forest are to the north. Inc. 1820. Pop. (2000) 20,512; (2010) 20,756.