Sen. Gerald A. Neal, D-Louisville, and the Kentucky Selma Commemoration Coalition will be hosting a reenactment of “Bloody Sunday” and a voter participation rally in Frankfort on Sunday.
The event will be in the interest of promoting and expanding voting throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
On March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama, state troopers attacked several hundred marchers during their attempt to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to begin a voting rights protest march to Montgomery Alabama. State troopers indiscriminately assaulted the crowd with nightsticks, clubs, tear gas, and whips, causing injuries and ending in many arrests.
This 55th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march marks, not only “Bloody Sunday,” but a series of peaceful protests carried out against often extreme violence that resulted in one of the most momentous pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history — the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“On that day, America witnessed individuals with the courage and willingness to stand up for their fellow man,” Sen. Neal said. “By holding this event, we will remember and pay tribute to the brave actions of those individuals that stood on the side of justice.”
This commemoration is aimed at promoting and expanding voting. It is planned as an annual event on the first Sunday of every March, in which organizations, the faith community, and others come together to continue the fight for equal rights. Individuals will sound a “Clarion Call” for all to exercise this right — the right to vote.
The reenactment will be held on Sunday, March 1, rain or shine.
Individuals interested in attending the march should line up at the parking area across from the Kentucky History Museum (100 W. Broadway, Frankfort) at 12:30 p.m. The march will begin at 2 p.m. at the corner of Main Street and Capital Avenue, then proceed to the Capitol.
At the conclusion of the march, a rally will follow on the Capitol steps.
For more information, email Gerald.Neal@LRC.KY.GOV or call 502-564-8100, Ext. 807 and ask for Annette Poole-Malone.
