{Dallas, TX – June 4th, 2015}
The Edmund Pettus Bridge is a bridge that carries U.S. Route 80 across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama . The bridge was named for Edmund Winston Pettus, a former Confederate general during the Civil War as well as a grand dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan.
On March 7, 1965, armed policemen attacked peaceful civil rights demonstrators attempting to march to the state capital of Montgomery in an incident that became known as Bloody Sunday. Because of the design of the bridge, the protestors were unable to see the police officers on the east side of the bridge until after they had reached the top of the bridge in the center.
Democratic state Sen. Hank Sanders of Selma sponsored the resolution, which calls for the bridge to be renamed the Journey to Freedom Bridge, according to the news site. The bridge is Selma’s most notable landmark, but its KKK association has drawn the ire of some in the majority black city.
The state’s House of Representatives, as well as Gov. Robert Bentley, still need to sign off on the resolution for it to go forward.
We will keep you updated with details.
