25, 000 GO TO ALABAMA S CAPITOL ;WALLACE REBUFFS PETITIONERS ;WHITE RIGHTS WORKER IS SLAIN

Press WirephotoCLIMAX OF FREEDOM MARCH : Thousands of civil rights demonstrators gather in front of Alabama State Capitol, at left, in Montgomery, atend of five-day, 54 -milemarch from Selma. At right is Dexter Avenue Baptist Church , where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had first pastorate.

DR. KING CHEERED

He Says NoWave ofRacism Can Stop

Us Now

fromand textof petition , Page 22

By ROY REEDSpecial to New York Times

MONTGOMERY, Ala . March25 -- The Rev. Dr Martin LutherKing Jr . led 25 ,000 Negroes andwhites to the shadow of the

State Capitol here today andchallenged Alabama to put anend to racial discrimination.

Gov . George C . Wallace sentword about . that hewould receive a delegation fromthe marchers after the rally ,but the delegation met twicewith rebuffs when it tried to

see him . State policemen stopped

the group the first time at theedge of the Capitol grounds and

said no one was to be let

through .

The delegation was later admitted to the Capitol but wastold that the Governor hadclosed his office for the day .The group left without givingits petition to anyone

At Steps of CapitolThe Alabama Freedom

March from Selma to Montgomery ended shortly after noonat the foot of the Capitol stepsand as people from all over thenation stood facing the whitecolumned statehouse, Dr. Kingassured them :

"We are not about to turn

around. We are on the movenow . Yes, we are on the moveand no wave of racism can stop

.

The throng let out a mightycheer , so loud that it was easilyaudible 75 yards away theoffice of Governor Wallace ,where the Governor was seenseveral times parting thetian blinds of a window overlooking the rally.

Even though themarch from Selma was a dramatization of grievance, itswindup at the steps of theCapitol carried the trappings oftriumph.

The march was hailed byseveral speakers as the greatest

demonstration in the history ofthe civil rights movement. Thecaravan that followed Dr. Kingup Dexter Avenue, up thebroad slope that once accommodated the inaugural paradeof the President of the Con

Continued on Column 1

The New York TimesPublished: March 26 , 1965

Copyright © The New York Times

25 ,000 March to Alabama' s Capitol, butWallace Avoids Delegation With a Petition

20 TURNED AWAY

IN 2 ENCOUNTERS

We Are on Move . King

Tells Throng That He Led

in Protest From Selma

Continued From Page 1 Col 8

federate States of America ,friends of the civil

rights movement from all sections of America and some fromabroad

Virtually all of the notablesof the movement were there ,

and the speakers' platform held

winners of the Nobel

Peace Prize, Dr. King and Dr.

Ralph J . Bunche NaUnder Secretary for

Special Political Affairs.

Other Negro leaders includedRoy Wilkins, executive directorof the National Association for

the Advancement of ColoredPeople Whitney M . Young, di

of the National UrbanLeague A Philip Randolphpresident of the Brotherhood of

Sleeping Car Porters BayardA . Rustin , who with Mr. Ran

dolph was one of the organizersof the March on Washington in STOPPED AT THE : The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr . is barred from

Associated Press

1963 , and John Lewis , president building by state troopers on steps. State Confederate are flying from dome.of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee .

Other notables included James

Baldwin , the author Harry

Belafonte , the singer Joan Baez,

the folk singer , and others .

The march started Sunday at

Selma It reached the outskirts

of Montgomery yesterday after

four days and nights on the

road under the protection of

Army troops and federalized

Alabama National Guardmen .

The troops were sent by President Johnson after GovernorWallace sald Alabama could not

afford the expense of protectingthe marchers.

The little band that made the

entire march , much of it

through desolate lowlands, was

joined today and last night bythousands who flocked to Mont

gomery to walk the last three

and -half miles of the tip

to the Capitolin Force

The marchers carried withthem a to GovernorWallace saying

"We have come not only five

days and 50 miles but we have

come from three centuries of

suffering and hardship . Wel

have come to you , the GoverAlabama, to declare that

we must have our freedomWe must have the right

must have equalof the law and an

end to police brutalityFederal troops who guarded

the marchers and brought

them safely to Montgomerywere out in force at the Capitol

today . Eight hundred troopslined Dexter Avenue, one soldier

about every 25 feet behindwooden barricades set between

the street and the sidewalks.

Troops stood on the roofs ofbuildings along themarch routethrough downtown Montgomery the whole nation to new

Jr Governor 's executive plied,almost immediately ,clasp

and on those of the office build course ," he said . . . Jackson was ing copies of the petition to his

ings looking out on the rally " Alabama has tried to nuture crippled by polio as a youth . He chest. " Please advise the Gov

at the Capitol steps. stood in Mr. Lowrey' s path onand defend evil, but the evil

ernor that as citizens of this

aluminum crutches .

The rally never got on to is choking to death in the dustystate we have legitimate griev

" Capitol is closed today ,

state property . It was confined roads and streets of this state ."ances to present to him . Please

Mr. Jackson began , in a calm ,

to the street in front of the . King spoke with passion , steady voice . " The Governor hasadvise the Governor that wewill return at another time .

steps . and the thousands sitting in designated me to receive your That would be appropriate

The down the street beneath him re petition ." Mr Jackson answered . The pe

- laned Dexter Avenue a sponded with repeated outbursts "We are very sorry that he titions never left Mr. Lowrey 'sblock and a half . Its cheers of approval cannot see us," Mr. Lowrey re

could be heard for blocks. Several times he urged his

The line of marchers who followers to continue their sup

walked from the City of . port of nonviolent demonstra

Jude, a Catholic school and hos tions, with the aim of achieving

pital where they spent last understanding with the white

night, stretched out so long that community .

when Dr. King and leaders Our aim must never be to

reached the makeshift speakers' defeat or humiliate the white

platform at the head of Dex man, he said , " but to win his

ter Avenue, the end of the line friendship and understanding.

did not arrive for nearly an We must come to see that the

hour and a half. end we seek is a society at

Tension Highpeace with itself , society that

can live with its conscience .

Tension was high in the city He ended his address with a

particularly after the rally asperoration on the theme

the thousands of visitors scur must justice be crucified

ried for taxis , buses , trains. and truth buried ? spirited

cars and airplanes to get out quotation of verse of " The

of town before nightfall Battle Hymn of the Republic"Dr. King. in an interview and finally a burst of "Glory

after the rally the civil hallelujah " repeated four

rights campaign would con times.

tinue in the Alabama Black The crowd rose to feetBelt . one great surge, and the

"We will continue to march applause and cheering reverberpeople to the courthouses ," he ated through the Capitol

said " there is resistance grounds.

naturally we will have to ex Two or three dozen state empose the resistance and the

ployes who had watched from

justice we still face . There the Capitol steps stood impascould be violence in some areas sively .

we feel a moral compulsion The committee of 18 Negro

to go forward , anyway." and two white Alabamians desHe said the Negro movement ignated to deliver the Negroes'

would turn much of its atten petition to Governor Wallace

tion in the weeks ahead to try walked the one, block

to pass President Johnson s from the Dexter Avenue Bapvoting rights bill in Congress . tist Church to Bainbridge

"We want immediate pas Street at about 5 :40 P . M .

sage said . " We lobby ( C . S . T )

for this in many areas of the State - police jurisdiction over

country . the Capitol grounds begins atIn his address at the end of the curb closest to the Capitol

the three-and- a -half -hour rally , steps and 70 blue-helmetedDr. King urged his listeners on - state troopers had been de

ward in the rights strug ployed at the curb line of Baingle. bridge Street half an hour be

" Let us march on segregated fore the committee arrived.

schools until every vestige of They were backed by 50 uni

segregation and inferior edu - formed conservation patrolmen

cation becomes a thing of the standing two deep halfway up

past and Negroes and whites the Capitol steps

study side by side the When the Rev. Joseph E .

cially healing context of the Lowrey, a Negro from Birming

classroom ," he said ham serving as ofus march on ballot boxes, the delegation , asked Maj.

march on ballot boxes until race L . Allen of the Alabama Highbaiters disappear from the po - Patrol to let the commitlitical arena. tee pass, the officer replied :

He referred to the tumultu " I don ' t know anything about

ous events at Selma in the last that." He said his were

two months , during which time to let no one through .

the voting -rights campaign that delegation of Governor

he began there turned into a Wallace ' s top aides was already

general protest against racial gathering the locked

injustice , with two men dead front door of the Capitol

and scores injured Instructions were then is" Yet Selma , Alabama, has be sued to Major Allen frim

come shining moment in the side the Capitol over an Army

conscience of man ," he said If walkie talkie Maj. Gen . Alfred

the worst in American life C . Harrison , the Alabama Adin the dark streets jutant General,who was dressed

best ofAmerican instincts arose in civilian clothes gave these

passionately from across the . The committeenation to overcome it." then walked up the Capitol

" The confrontation of good steps.

and evil compressed in the tiny About 10 feet inside the door

community of generated however , Mr. Lowrey came face

the massive power that turned to face with Jackson

The New York TimesPublished : March 26 , 1965

Copyright The York Times