Hosea Williams was a civil rights leader and a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. On March 7, 1965, the first of these marches began in Selma and is now known as "Bloody Sunday" due to the violent response of the Alabama state troopers against peaceful protesters.
In describing the state troopers' treatment of the Selma protestors, Hosea Williams said, "They came at us in a wave of blue, beating us with nightsticks and bullwhips, trampling us with horses, and releasing tear gas into the crowd. I saw elderly men and women, young children, and even pregnant women being knocked to the ground and brutally beaten. It was one of the most horrific things I've ever witnessed."