Jimmie Lee Jackson- Shot February 18, 1965 , Died February 26, 1965

Jimmie Lee Jackson (December 1938 – February 26, 1965) was a young, unarmed civil rights protestor who was shot by an Alabama State Trooper in 1965.^[1] Jackson's death was among the abuses of African Americans that inspired the Selma to Montgomery marches, an important event in the American Civil Rights movement.^[1]

Jimmie Lee Jackson was a deacon of the St. James Baptist Church in Marion, Alabama, ordained in the summer of 1964.^[2] Jackson had tried to register to vote without success for four years.^[2]Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who had touched of a campaign against Alabama restrictions on Negro voting and attended meetings several nights per week at Zion's Chapel Methodist Church.^[2] This desire to vote led to his death at the hands of an Alabama State Trooper.^[2] Jackson was inspired by

On the night of February 18, 1965, around 500 people left Zion United Methodist Church in Marion and attempted a peaceful walk to the Perry County Jail about a half a block away where young Civil Rights worker James Orange was being held.^[3] The marchers planned to sing hymns and return to the church. Police later stated they believed the crowd was planning a jailbreak.^[3]

They were met at the Post Office^[3] by a line of Marion City police officers, sheriff's deputies, and Alabama State Troopers.^[1] In the standoff, streetlights were abruptly turned off (some sources^[3][3][1] Among those beaten were two United Press International photographers, whose cameras were smashed, and NBC News correspondent Richard Valeriani, who was beaten so badly that he was hospitalized.^[3] The marchers turned and scattered back towards the church. say they were shot out by the police), and the police began to beat the protestors.

Twenty-six-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson, his mother Viola Jackson, and his 82-year-old grandfather, Cager Lee, ran into Mack's Café behind the church, pursued by Alabama State Troopers. Police clubbed Cager Lee to the floor^[1] in the kitchen. The police continued to beat the cowering octogenarian Lee, and when his daughter Viola attempted to pull the police off, she was also beaten.^[4] When Jimmie Lee attempted to protect his mother, one trooper threw him against a cigarette machine. A second trooper shot Jimmie Lee twice in the abdomen.^[4] James Bonard Fowler later admitted to being that trooper.^[1] Although shot twice, Jimmie Lee fled the café amid additional blows from police clubs and collapsed in front of the bus station.^[3] Jackson made a statement to a lawyer, Oscar Adams of Birmingham in the presence of FBI officials stating he was "clubbed down" by State Troopers after he was shot and had run away from the café.^[5]

Jimmie Lee Jackson died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Selma, on February 26, 1965.^[3][1] After his death, Sister Michael Anne, and administrator at Good Samaritan, said there were powder burns on Mr. Jackson's abdomen, indicating that he was shot at very close range.^[5]