A major civil rights protest centered in Selma focused national attention on racial discrimination in voting and led to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In January of 1963 local citizens organized a voter registration class, and by February others were in Selma to assist with registration. Local law officials and blacks seeking to register to vote soon clashed, bringing widespread news coverage. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Selma in January of 1965 to lead the drive to vote, beginning marches to the Dallas County Courthouse, many arrests, ensuing violence, and national media attention on Selma and voter registration. On Sunday March 7, 1965, 600 people led by Hosea Williams and John Lewis began a march to Montgomery to take their quest for voting rights directly to Governor George C. Wallace. At the Pettus bridge they were met by state troopers who used horses, tear gas, and billy clubs to break up the march. A march on March 9, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., met the troopers at the same place and turned around without incident. The Federal Court ruled the march was legal, and with Federal protection 4,000 began the march to Montgomery on March 21. Camping along the road, the protesters reached 25,000 by the time they reached the State Capital on March 25. National news coverage of these events secured widespread support and led to the approval of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1865.