MIKE GRACIA

Sir Elton Hercules John (Reginald Kenneth Dwight) is a British
singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship
have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry,
and his songwriting partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin is
one of the most successful in history. John was the 19th
EGOT winner in history. He has sold over 300 million records
worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists
of all time. Elton John is 78 years old today.

On March 20, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson notified
Alabama’s Governor George Wallace that he will use federal
authority to call up the Alabama National Guard in order to
supervise a planned civil rights march from Selma to
Montgomery.

President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Martin Luther
King, Jr.
   

ROSS SIMPSON

In the name of African American voting rights, 3,200 civil rights demonstrators in Alabama, led by Martin Luther King Jr., began
an historic march from Selma to Montgomery, the state’s capital. Federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and FBI agents were
on hand to provide safe passage for the march, which twice had
been turned back by Alabama state police at Selma’s Edmund
Pettus Bridge.

  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   
On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the
African American civil rights movement reached its high-water
mark when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream"
speech to about 250,000 people attending the March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.      

The demonstrators—Black and white, poor and rich—came
together in the nation’s capital to demand voting rights and        
equal opportunity for African Americans and to appeal for 
an end to racial segregation and discrimination.

SANDY KOZEL