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On the fifth day of the Selma-to-Montgomery march, 25,000 civil rights, labor, and religious supporters entered the City of Montgomery to deliver their petition for the right to vote to the doorstep of the Alabama State Capitol.
From the City of St. Jude on the outskirts of Montgomery, along city streets patroled by Army and National Guard troops, the marchers made thier way through segregated black and white neighborhoods into downtown Montgomery. Old and young came out on their porches to witness the historic event as the seemingly-endless multiracial throng, often singing in the intermittant rain, took hours to pass their homes.
On the steps of the State Capitol, an unprecedented array of civil rights leaders and entertainers amplified the marcher's calls for voting rights with uplifting oratory and freedom songs of the civil rights movement.
The Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March was a milestone leading to passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965.