Rustin's desperate 1963 telegram begged President Kennedy to send federal troops to protect 1,400 people trapped overnight in a Selma church, surrounded by hostile police forces.
The 1963 Selma Church siege occurred during the early stages of voting rights activism when African Americans faced violent resistance for attempting to register to vote in the Deep South. Local and state authorities routinely used intimidation, economic pressure, and physical violence to prevent Black political participation, white federal intervention remained limited and inconsistent. This incident, largely suppressed by mainstream media, exemplified the systematic terrorism employed to maintain white political supremacy and demonstrated the urgent need for federal civil rights enforcement that wouldn't fully materialize until the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Rustin, Bayard. "Telegram, September 24, 1963, 5:06 PM." John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/september-24-1963-506-pm.
