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May 24, 2005
Gallery Posting: From Selma to Montgomery
Selma to Montgomery: 2000
In March, 2000, I had the opportunity to travel to Alabama with civil rights legend and U.S. Congressman John Lewis along with many other civil rights luminaries and other members of Congress for the 35th Anniversary of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The weekend began with a chartered jet trip to Birmingham where we would visit historic places such as the 16th Street Baptist church, the Kelly Ingram Memorial Park, and the Civil Rights Museum. The following day, we would travel by bus to Montgomery where we would see Dexter Baptist Church, Mt. Zion AME, and others with the Civil Rights Memorial that honors fallen heros of the movement.
On Sunday, we would all gather for a bus trip to Selma for a church service and lunch at Brown Chapel, followed by a reenactment of the 1965 bridge march that began in Selma at that church to the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge and on to Montgomery. In the first attempt to cross the bridge in 1965 by John Lewis (who was then President of SNCC) and other marchers, they were met at the foot of the bridge by Alabama State Troopers wielding guns and nightsticks. John Lewis would be beaten within an inch of his life, suffering a fractured skull. Two weeks later, The Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. took up where the marchers left off and made that long and dangerous journey to Montgomery.
Although 35 years have passed since the Freedom Riders and marchers, such as John Lewis, made these historic strides for civil rights, the spirit of the movement lives on in these sites and in these people who were there. They pass that spirit on to each generation that is willing to recieve it. I count myself as fortunate to have been there, and hope that some of that spirit is portrayed in the images that are exhibited here.
To view these images, please look to the left under the "Galleries" heading and click on "From Selma to Montgomery" or click here
Posted by Lana at May 24, 2005 1:02 AM
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