The Edmund Pettis Bridge is the site of many famous civil rights marches.
make their demands to Gov. George Wallace,” explains Barry McNealy, the Education Program Consultant for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a museum highlighting the continuous struggle by African Americans in Alabama and beyond for equal rights. “And that impetus pushed Pres. Lyndon Johnson to later sign the Voting Rights Act.” “Those people that were there at that time had to be some of the most courageous people in the movement for what they accomplished,” adds McNealy. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led the third five-day march, finally reaching Montgomery under the protection of federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and FBI agents. The bridge is now part of the U.S. Civil Rights Trail and a National Historic Landmark, where memorial plaques pay tribute to the heroes of the three marches, including Martin Luther King Jr. and the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia. Today, visitors walk over the bridge to relive these moments in history, and also drive the 54-mile Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail along U.S. Route 80 with two interpretive centers along the way, in Selma and in Lowndes County. Selma, Montgomery, and Birmingham are home to key historic moments and sites in the struggle for civil
The Selma Voting Rights Monument and Park Includes trails through wooded areas and views of Selma and the Alabama River.
HISTORIC CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL By Richard Varr
Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, with its single curved arch, stretches over the often-tranquil waters of the Alabama River, not unlike other bridges in America. Yet history tells another story about how what happened on this bridge 55 years ago reverberated throughout the world—a momentous event known as “Bloody Sunday” that changed history. OnMarch 7, 1965, about 600 peaceful civil rights activists marching from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery for equal voting rights had just crossed the bridge where Alabama State troopers and a deputized posse awaited them on the other side. When marchers refused to leave, troopers fired tear gas, charged them on horses, and clubbed them with nightsticks. Nationally televised images portrayed the horror that very night. “There was a momentum there, but it would take two more marches to finally make it to Montgomery to
HISTORIC CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL
COAST TO COAST FALL MAGAZINE 2020
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