Hundreds of peaceful protestors were crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama 60 years ago today when they were met by a wall of police. Protesters were tear gassed and beaten. A young man named John Lewis suffered a fractured skull.
Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., Lewis and others, the protestors returned later that month and completed the 54-mile march to Montgomery in their push for voting rights.
Most of the original marchers, like Lewis, who went on to become a leading member of Congress, have since died, but this weekend, faith leaders, members of congress and civil rights veterans will gather in Selma to commemorate the 60th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday," which helped lead to landmark federal voting rights legislation.
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