Dear Visitor,
In America's Civil Rights History, 1965 was the year of Selma. In the years after the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, activists worked without broad success to register Blacks to vote in the Deep South.
But a march on “Bloody Sunday” and the strategic leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. brought the issue to a dramatic head. Thousands marched from Selma to Montgomery in an act of national solidarity that won passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to protect the rights of all citizens.
2015 marks the 50th Anniversary of this tragic and pivotal history. Birmingham View Magazine has gathered some information about key golden anniversary events for our readers. We will send you updates as new information become available.
Selma Jubilee Focuses on Restoring Voting Rights for Bloody Sunday's 50th Anniversary
"Remember, Recommit, and Restore" is the 50th Anniversary theme of the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee that hosts an annual pilgrimage to honor the "Bloody Sunday" March across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965. The 2015 Jubilee features more than 50 events, 40 of them free, in the City of Selma March 5-9.
Thousands of people across the country and the world will descend on Selma to commemorate Bloody Sunday with the annual march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Sunday, March 8. They will walk with the remaining foot soldiers of that time from Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. A new generation of civil rights activists and groups who have organized in the wake of high-profile cases such as those involving Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner are expected to join them.
Jubilee planners want to focus attention on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a set of federal protections created as a direct result of Bloody Sunday and the Selma-to-Montgomery marches led by civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as depicted in the movie, "Selma."
"This year is bittersweet because we love the attention the movie has brought to my city and this annual event," says Catrena Norris Carter, Executive Director of the Selma to Montgomery 50th Commemoration Foundation, which sponsors the Jubilee. "But the celebration is overshadowed by the reality that our own U.S. Supreme Court recently gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act."
"We have to remind the people coming here that our future is not secure unless the protections under the Voting Rights Act are fully restored so that all citizens have full and free access to the polls to elect officials to represent their best interests," she says. "So we want everyone coming to this year's Jubilee to remember the past sacrifices that brought us thus far, and to personally recommit to securing the voting rights of every citizen. Write and call your Congressional representative, urging them to fully restore the protections under the Voting Rights Act. Hence, the reason behind our theme this year: Remember, Recommit, and Restore."
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"An All-Star Salute to Selma" Set for Bridge Crossing Jubilee On Sunday, March 8; Choir Rehearsal on Feb. 22
“An All-Star Salute to Selma” docu-concert featuring well-known gospel and R&B artists will culminate nearly a week of activities commemorating the 50th Anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" on Sunday, March 8, at the annual Bridge-Crossing Jubilee.
Led by renowned conductor Dr. Henry Panion, III, with the GSC Symphony Orchestra and a 1,000-voice Mass Choir, the docu-concert features special guest stars Kirk Franklin, Ruben Studdard, Lady Tramaine Hawkins, Richard Smallwood and more. In addition to the confirmations already received, other artists including The Clark Sisters, Fantasia, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Bobby Brownare trying to work out their schedules to appear.
The salute on March 8, 2015, starts at 3:00 PM, after the annual pilgrimage of thousands who come each year to cross Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the Bloody Sunday March.
UPDATE: Choir Rehearsal Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015
People joining the 1,000-voice Mass Choir to perform in the “All-Star Salute to Selma” docu-concert, featuring well-known gospel and R&B artists, are invited to rehearse at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22.
The rehearsal for the Selma 50th Anniversary Jubilee Choir will take place at Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, located at 2135 Jefferson Ave SW, Birmingham, AL 35211.
Dr. Panion says that his goal is to have only one rehearsal. However, if a second rehearsal is required, it will be held at the same location on the following Sunday, March 1, also at 4 p.m. For those unable to attend, the rehearsals will be streamed live via YouTube.
Also contact associate musical producers Sherry Lewis via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Valerie Hicks Powe via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 404-965-0807.
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Obama Returns to Alabama As President for Selma50 Anniversary
The former Senator from Chicago, IL, who crossed Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge as a presidential candidate in March 2007 will return to Alabama in March 2015 as the sitting 44th President of the United States of America.
Barack Obama is set to make an appearance in Selma for the 50th Anniversary commemorating "Bloody Sunday" and the other voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery on Saturday, March 7. And he will likely announce details of a $50 million line item in his proposed budget to Congress for parks and monuments dedicated to memorializing the Civil Rights Movement.
When Obama first made his pilgrimage to Selma as a U.S. Senator, he was making the rounds across Alabama with then-Democratic U.S. Rep. Artur Davis of Birmingham, a Montgomery-native and fellow Harvard graduate with Obama. Davis was using his substantial influence at the time to tout his friend as a serious contender for the presidency.
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