King aimed to give Southern Blacks the right to vote so organised a march on Selma, Alabama in 1965, since the 1964 Civil Rights Act had done little to improve life for Southern Blacks. Selma was a segregated town with fifty per cent of it's population being Black, with only twenty three registered Black voters in 1960. Selma played host to hostile White officials and locals. King led the would-be-voters to register at the County Court. However, despite a federal judges ruling, no voters were registered. Venomous snakes were thrown at protestors and King was arrested. The violence King had intended to provoke had not been achieved. Whilst King was imprisoned, the SCLC and SNCC organised a march from Selma to Montgomery. This march would get the reaction King wanted when state troopers attacked protestors with tear gas and clubs. The media jumped on this and a nationwide criticism of Selma's Whites ensued. The march pressured the Federal Government to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Historian S.Oates claims "Selma was the movements finest hour" and R.Field describes it as "King and the SCLC appearing to have triumphed in one of the toughest area"s to overcome". .
Formal segregation in the South had ended in 1964 , and with Southern Blacks gaining the vote in 1965, King would need to focus else where. He focused Northwards, where there was concern about economical and social problems, non-violent protesting seemed less convincing, and King's Southern achievements were unknown. King's primary focus was Chicago, Illinois and he hoped the SCLC's non-violence policy would prevent an increase in Black militancy and violence. King found life in the North different to Southern life, and found provoking city officials to be extremely difficult. Whites did however attack King and protestors in Marquette Park, which led King to discover there was more White hostility in the North than South.