Selma is marking the anniversary of a key moment in the civil rights movement this weekend with a commemoration that will end with activists walking across a historic bridge.
SELMA, Ala. (AP) — Selma is marking the anniversary of a key moment in the civil rights movement this weekend with a commemoration that will end with activists walking across a historic bridge. The Bridge Crossing Jubilee began Thursday in the west Alabama city, and it will end Sunday with a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Civil rights leaders, including Georgia Rep. John Lewis, are attending. He said "it is very important to sensitize members of Congress to the price that was paid by African Americans and others for the right to vote." The events mark the 46th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday, when authorities beat back civil rights demonstrators who marched across the bridge toward Montgomery on March 7, 1965. The Selma-to-Montgomery march was held in response and built momentum for passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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