In the first 1960s, sick and tired of reprisals for attempting to enroll to vote, Selma’s black community begun to protest. The struggle received countrywide attention when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a voting privileges march in January, 1965, and was attacked by a segregationist. In February, the shooting of an unarmed demonstrator by an Alabama condition trooper motivated a march from Selma towards the condition capital of Montgomery. The march got off to a horrific start on March 7 as rules officers attacked relaxing demonstrators. Broadcast throughout the world, the violence attracted wide-spread outrage and spurred demonstrators to comprehensive the march at any cost. On March 25, after many setbacks, protesters completed the fifty-four-mile march to a cheering group of 25,000 followers.