brutally beaten and tear gassed by alabama state troopers and local police. broadcast around the world. providing johnson the political momentum needed to urgently get the voting rights legislation back in play. >> there is no negro problem. there is no southern problem. there is no northern problem. there is only an american problem. >> reporter: the voting rights act passed about five months later, and was signed into law on august 6th, 1965, forbidding racial discrimination in voting. >> we have to stay engaged, have to stay on the battlefield because things don't permanently change unless you are there in the fight. dad did a sermon called "sleeping through a revolution." and we have to make sure that we do not sleep through the revolution. >> reporter: suzanne malveaux, cnn, washington. >> suzanne, thank you very much for that. and thank you, everyone, for