selma to montgomery march

March 4, 2024 - This month marks the 59th anniversary of Selma, Alabama's Bloody Sunday. Community organizer and democracy advocate Trey Walk reflects on the life and legacy of civil rights icon John Lewis and the importance of sustaining the fight to expand voting rights across the South.

March 11, 2022 - Thousands of people gathered recently in Alabama for the 57th anniversary of the historic Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights, which was met with police violence as peaceful demonstrators tried to cross a bridge named for a Klan leader. This year's event took place as state legislatures across the South are passing bills to limit voting and protesting.

March 10, 2021 - Republican lawmakers nationwide have introduced over 250 bills this year to restrict voting access in 43 states — 39 bills in Georgia alone. Given the backlash against last year's record-breaking voter turnout playing out at the state level, voting rights advocates are looking to Congress and the promise of H.R. 1, which has now advanced to the U.S. Senate. But can it get past the filibuster?

November 18, 2020 - Black voters turned out in record numbers this election cycle but had to overcome barriers to the ballot box that undermine the fairness of the electoral process. Advocates continue to call for restoring the Voting Rights Act to ensure that African American voters are protected from voter suppression.

March 25, 2015 - The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation has launched a "Southern Voices" oral history project to capture the stories of Southern leaders working for social and economic justice. The first installment focuses on elders of the movement who continue to work for the cause today.

March 20, 2015 - Passed after the infamous "Bloody Sunday" attack on civil rights protesters in Alabama in 1965, the Voting Rights Act successfully blocked hundreds of potentially discriminatory election changes -- until the Supreme Court struck down a key provision in 2013. There's an effort underway in Congress to fix the hobbled law, but what are its chances of passing?

March 19, 2015 - It was 50 years ago this week that President Johnson delivered an address to Congress calling for passage of the Voting Rights Act. The speech is regarded as the best of his administration -- and one of the finest pieces of presidential oratory in history.