In March 1965, hundreds of peaceful civil rights protesters in Selma were brutally beaten by Alabama state troops.

They had been marching to demonstrate against the denial of voting rights to Black Americans.

The bloodshed in Selma prompted President Lyndon B Johnson to push for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress.

The landmark Act was brought in to tackle racial discrimination during elections and to guarantee the rights of African Americans to vote.

Farhana Haider has been listening to the archive.

A version of this programme was first broadcast in 2020.

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(Photo: Civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King at the Selma to Montgomery march. Credit: Getty Images)

How bloodshed in Selma led to the US Voting Rights Act 1965

Witness History