March from Selma begins

On March 21, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. began his third march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to protest racial discrimination in the Jim Crow South. By March 25, over 25,000 people led by Dr. King reached Montgomery, Alabama. Specifically, the march called attention to the suppression of African-American voting rights and a police assault on a civil rights demonstration three weeks prior.

Five months later, in August 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. Read a history of the march from Selma to Montgomery.

THIS DAY @ LAW

19th Amendment adopted

On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was adopted, granting women full suffrage. The Amendment states that "[t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." Learn more about the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment from the National Archives.

Declaration of the Rights of Man adopted

On August 26, 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man was adopted by the French National Assembly. Click here to read the text of the Declaration and learn more about its formulation.