James Reeb – 1927-1965

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Reeb was a white minister of the Unitarian church, who participated in a Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) demonstration in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. He was among the demonstrators attacked by a white mob on March 8, a date known as Bloody Sunday. Savagely beaten and clubbed, Reeb sustained severe head trauma and died in the hospital on March 10. His grisly death reverberated through the nation, raised the northern white consciousness, and increased the volume of condemnation against the racism of the South.