ILGWU mobile health unit at 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.

The 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama was one of the highlights of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led the march in an effort to force the U.S. Congress to pass legislation guaranteeing Southern blacks the right to vote.

Pictured here is one of the ILGWU’s mobile health centers, speeding past the marchers on Highway 40, traveling east to Montgomery in order to be prepared to treat the marchers when they reach their destination. Trained medical personnel traveled in huge tractor trailers like this one, usually pulling up beside a factory for weeks or longer in order to provide union members with health assessments and treatments.

Learn more about the ILGWU and civil rights in the exhibit The ILGWU: Social Unionism in Action.