60 Years of History: Celebrating the Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches

In March, we welcomed thousands of visitors to Selma to honor the original foot soldiers who stepped into history 60 years ago. We commemorated the 1965 activists’ sacrifice, stood in the shadow of their courage, and carried their legacy forward through storytelling, service, and celebration.

From the screening of a forceful documentary featuring foot soldiers from the 1960s, including our founder Jo Ann Bland, to the voices of our new National Youth Advisory Board (YAB) members, our anniversary event was inspiring, unifying and thought-provoking. Dozens of Black women judges from across Alabama, including Vernetta Perkins, the first female district court judge in Dallas County, joined us and retraced the foot soldiers’ steps across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday.

Together with our vibrant community, we listened to the stories of foot soldiers, some of whom were children at the time, witnessed law enforcement brutally beating activists or experienced it themselves.

“[State troopers] had billy clubs. They had tear gas,” said foot soldier Florence Ford, describing Bloody Sunday when she and other activists tried to cross the Bridge. “And we ran as fast as we could. And the horses were still running behind us and trying to run down on us.”

Today, as we look back on the 60th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches, we are humbled by the fortitude and bravery of those who came before us and paved the way for some of the most sacred rights we have as individuals and a democratic nation.

“I’m very, very grateful for my involvement in [the marches],” said foot soldier Jeanette Howard who was one of the seventeen injured activists that day. “I call it a revolution because it was more than a movement that changed the world. The struggle continues, however.”

We also heed their words, and recognize the long road ahead. To that end, at Foot Soldiers Park we’re working with young people to learn and grow as informed and inspired leaders, ready to take on the ongoing civil rights challenges and chart their own brighter future. We are developing a robust national youth platform for civic engagement, peer learning and leadership development to serve as a political bench and movement builder.

At the event, we pinned this year’s new class of red coats as YAB members. We also inaugurated our new young adult group – the gold coats – former YAB members who’ve graduated from high school and will be turning 19. They will serve as “elders” for the red coats, offering advisory support and fundraising activities.

“What excites me most is seeing future generations of YAB build on this foundation, reaching even greater heights and achieving things we’ve only dreamed of. The work continues and the potential is limitless,” said Sydney Pritchett, one of the gold coats.

“One of the most powerful moments of the 60th anniversary was seeing the unity and passion of everyone coming together to celebrate our history, especially those who traveled here,” said Jolie Jackson, another YAB member. “It really emphasized the significance of Selma’s historic events and the importance of our voices.”

The anniversary event was a powerful marker for Foot Soldiers Park as we step into the next 60 years focused on providing Selma with the opportunity to position its historical significance as an engine for economic development and liberation, and cultivating and training the next generation of changemakers and leaders to transform their own communities.

Dr. King, in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, famously said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” And although we are still affected, we can and do dream of a future free from the shackles of racism, bigotry, and hatred which we’ve faced for hundreds of years.

For those who started marching 60 years ago, for those who’ve carried their legacy forward, and for those future foot soldiers who will ensure that while history is not forgotten, it’s also not repeated, we stand with you, hand in hand.

“What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It’s all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice, and we shall overcome.”

— President Lyndon B. Johnson