Feb. 5, 1965 | MLK Released from Jail

Feb. 5, 1965 - Dr. Martin Luther King emerged from jail today and announced he would seek a conference Monday with President Johnson on the seething racial situation that has brought more than 3,000 arrests in Alabama.
Dr. King made the disclosure at a news conference after a meeting with 15 Northern and Western congressmen who came to Selma, Ala., for a firsthand look at the situation.
Dr. King said he left his jail cell because he realized new legislation is necessary to cope with voter registration conditions such as those in Dallas County. The Nobel Prize winner posted $200 bond on the charge of parading without a permit and emerged from five days behind bars with a stubble of beard on his chin.
He was freed just in time to pass nearly 450 more young Negroes who were marching on the courthouse. They were arrested, as were 75 others who staged a demonstration at the courthouse earlier today.

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