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Tag: Bloody Sunday

President Obama and the First Family Pays Tributes To Freedom Fighters Of Selma March

[Washington DC] President Obama and the First Family Pays Tributes To Freedom Fighters Of Selma March
President Obama and the First Family joined thousands of Americans at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to honor the sacrifice and bravery of the men and women who bled there, on that very pavement exactly 50 years ago. Many of those original “foot soldiers” also joined him , including Congressman John Lewis, who helped to organize the first march over this bridge in 1965, who endured a tragic beating on that “Bloody Sunday,” and who yesterday strode arm in arm with the President of the United States.
It was a day filled with electricity, inspiration, tales of heartache and courage, and the true story of how a handful of ordinary Americans helped to change the course of history with their grace, their peaceful action, and their bold belief in the true spirit of this country.
In March of 1965, thousands of people marched 54 miles from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery to protest the disenfranchisement of African Americans and in support of civil rights for all.
The first of three Selma marches took place on March 7, 1965. As the marchers were walking out of Selma, only six blocks from where they started, they were stopped on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. There, state troopers and other residents attacked the unarmed marchers with clubs and tear gas to keep them from getting to the capital. The attack on the peaceful marchers on the bridge on March 7 was captured by journalists and quickly spread around the world, becoming known as “Bloody Sunday.”
Two days later, Martin Luther King Jr. led a symbolic second march, to show solidarity and stand with those who were beaten and bruised on Bloody Sunday. The marchers were again met by Alabama state police officers, and this time the marchers retreated, avoiding another bloody confrontation.Obama@Age Of Four Was also one of the marcher