In this letter, Alice Guillemette of Massachusetts aks FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover “whether or not you agree with your FBI agent, Mr. James M. Barbo of Mobile, Ala. that you think the State Troopers acted in the interest of public safety by tear-gassing Negro marchers last Sunday at Selma, Ala.”
The attempted march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, on Sunday, March 7th was stopped by police troopers and resulted in tear gassing and dispersal of the approximately 625 marchers. It came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
The violent response from Alabama State Troopers and a mob of citizens was broadcast on national television for all to see. Citizens from around the country were largely shocked by the way the marchers were abused, and many wrote to the government to express their outrage. About watching the incident on television, Guillemette states, “It was the most monstrous, brutal thing I’ve ever seen” and makes clear that she is a “white, Anglo-Saxon and Christian and old” woman supporting the cause of the marchers.
