“John had a serious head injury, a concussion. In the hospital, his feeling of helplessness were as bad as the physical pain. He didn't know what was going on outside. He wanted to know what had happened to the people on the bridge.

“Finally, reports began to trickle in. Bloody Sunday was a national scandal. There were demonstrations in more than eighty cities against the brutality of the Alabama police and troopers. There were calls for a federal law that would guarantee everyone the right to vote. By the time John was released from the hospital, he had real hope that black people would soon have the same voting rights as whites.”