A new booklet provides a nice overview of the events leading up to, and including, the calamitous march for civil rights in Alabama in 1965 that propelled the issue of segregation and voting rights for all Americans onto the national stage.

Written by Theresa L. Hall, a ranger at the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail and released this month by Eastern National, A March for All: Selma’s Voting Rights Movement, examines the struggle for civil rights and the impact of the marches from Selma, Alabama in 1965.

Richly illustrated with with historic photos, the booket details the events leading up to the marches, and profiles the individuals who organized, coordinated, and participated in the historic Selma to Montgomery Marches.

We learn about Sam and Amelia Boynton, the earliest organizers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Selma, and the “Courageous Eight,” a dedicated group that risked their lives to end segregation and achieve equality.

Among the photos are several depicting Alabama state troopers assaulting demonstrators with battons and canes; one shot shows troopers on horseback beating demonstrators. There's a historic photo of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., walking with Ralph Abernathy and the Reverend Andrew Young in Selma.

We learn the story of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot by a state trooper when he tried to protect his grandfather and mother from police and died eight days later, and that of Viola Liuzzo, a white housewife who was tracked down and killed by Ku Klux Klan members for driving blacks to Selma from Montgomery.

The KKK mem began to pursue Mrs. Liuzzo on Highway 80E and pulled up next to her about 26 miles down the road in Lowndes County. They shot through the window and killed her. Leory (Moton, a black teenager riding with her) managed to steer the car towards the ditch where it stopped. The men stopped and looked in Mrs. Liuzzo's car to make sure the two were dead. Leroy pretended to be dead and they left. Viola Liuzzo became yet another martyr for the movement.

“A March for All: Selma’s Voting Rights Movement tells a story of courage, perseverance and sacrifice,” said George Minnucci, chief executive officer of Eastern National, a cooperating association that produces educational and interpretive materials for the national parks. “This new publication details one of the most significant civil rights events in U.S. history.”

You can buy the 32-page softcover edition of A March for All: Selma’s Voting Rights Movement for $5.95 at this site.

For more information about this publication and other Eastern National products, visit eParks.com or call 1-877-NAT-PARK (877-628-7275). Wholesale opportunities are also available.