On March 7, 1965, a day that would become known as Bloody Sunday, peaceful civil rights demonstrators were brutally attacked by Alabama state troopers as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The marchers, led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, were advocating for voting rights for African Americans. What began as a peaceful protest quickly turned into a violent confrontation that shocked the nation and galvanized support for the civil rights movement. 

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester, who were missioned in Selma at the time, played a critical role in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday. While they did not participate in the march itself, they rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital to care for the wounded, offering comfort and medical assistance to those injured in the attack.

The Violence of Bloody Sunday

As the marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met by a wall of state troopers and a sheriff’s posse armed with tear gas, batons, and whips. The troopers, some on horseback, charged into the crowd, beating men, women, and children indiscriminately. The violence was captured on camera and broadcast across the nation, shocking Americans who had never before witnessed such brutality. 

“The people coming over the bridge had no idea what was waiting for them on the other side. When they got to the top of the bridge, they could see all the troopers with their electric cattle prods.”  Sister Mary Paul Geck (Bloody Sunday 1) 

The marchers were unprepared for the level of violence they encountered. Many were severely injured, with broken bones, head wounds, and the effects of tear gas. When news of the violence reached the Sisters of St. Joseph, they immediately sprang into action. Sister Mary Paul Geck and others (Many of whom were elementary school teachers with little medical knowledge) rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital, where they worked tirelessly to care for the injured.

“I remember taking care of—first thing I walked into the hospital, John Crear sat me at a table right inside the door and said, ‘Will you take registration and put a bracelet on everybody that comes in, so we’ll know who they are.’ The people who were tear gassed, they took into the cafeteria. And then the others, I remember some of them coming in and they were so bloody.” -Sister Mary Paul Geck (Bloody Sunday 1) 

The sisters worked all day and into the night, tending to wounds, comforting the injured, and organizing care for the overwhelming number of victims. They recalled the heartbreaking scenes of injured people lining the halls. 

“They were lining the hall outside of the cafeteria, the staff dining room, lining the hall and moaning and crying and just trying to get over the results of the tear gas.” Sister Josepha Twomey (Bloody Sunday 1) 

According to the sisters, some of the doctors did not come to the hospital to help care for the wounded due to their prejudices against the movement and the people involved.

The Harsh Realities of Segregation: Hearses as Ambulances

“They are hearses. They had to use hearses for ambulances. There was not an ambulance service for Blacks, and so they used their rolling—what they called their rolling stock. They used their hearses for ambulances. It’s little things like that though, that people don’t understand. Why are they using hearses? And unless you’re part of it, you don’t understand. That was all they had to use.” -S. Barbara Lum (Are Those Hearses?)

One of the most striking details of Bloody Sunday was the use of hearses as makeshift ambulances to transport the wounded. In Selma, there were no ambulance services available for African Americans. To combat this, hearses—vehicles typically used to carry the dead—were repurposed to carry the living. When marchers were injured during the violent confrontation on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, hearses were used to transport the wounded. This shocking reality highlighted the dehumanizing effects of segregation and the lengths to which the Black community had to go to survive. 

S. Barbara Lum recalled how this detail often went unnoticed by those outside the struggle.

This practice was not unique to Selma but was a common reality in many segregated communities across the South. The lack of basic services for African Americans—whether ambulances, hospitals, or even voting rights—was a direct result of systemic racism and institutional neglect. 

The violence of Bloody Sunday was broadcast on national television, shocking viewers and garnering widespread sympathy for the civil rights movement. Americans who had previously been indifferent or unaware of the struggle for voting rights were now confronted with the brutal reality of racism in the South. 

The Legacy of Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday marked a turning point in the civil rights movement. The bravery of the marchers and the compassion of the sisters inspired countless others to join the fight for justice. Just weeks later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the successful Selma to Montgomery March, which culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester involvement in Bloody Sunday remains a powerful example of faith in action. They were not allowed to join the demonstrators, but they did what they could to help when they really needed it. Bloody Sunday was a dark moment in the Civil Rights Movement, but it inspired many people from around the country to join the fight for equal civil rights for all.

S. Roberta Schmidt talks about when she found out about Bloody Sunday while working and living at Fontbonne college in St. Louis.

---