We left Panama City with stomachs filled with Egg McMuffins and drove to Selma, Alabama where we walked the Edmund Pettis Bridge in 90 degree temperatures. “Built in 1940, it is named after Edmund Pettus, a former Confederate brigadier general, U.S. senator, and state-level leader (“Grand Dragon”) of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan.” What a guy! Thankfully, there are plans to change the name of this historical landmark. 

According to sources, “six hundred marchers assembled in Selma on “Bloody Sunday” March 7, 1965. They were led by John Lewis and other SNCC and SCLC activists and crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River en route to Montgomery. Just short of the bridge, they found their way blocked by Alabama State troopers and local police who ordered them to turn around. When the protesters refused, the officers shot teargas and waded into the crowd, beating the nonviolent protesters with billy clubs and ultimately hospitalizing over fifty people.”

The protest was over voting rights and social injustice. It led to the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act reinforcing the Fifteenth Amendment and assuring that the right of citizens of the United States to vote is not denied or abridged on account of race or color. The state of Alabama had interpreted the law in a racist manner. 

We had time for the Selma detour because a glass blowing demonstration on the University of Alabama was cancelled due to Covid. The group headed to A&W (Archibald and Woodward’s) for BBQ instead. My half-sister then took my wife and I on a campus and downtown Tuscaloosa tour, ending with drinks at The Hunt Club. It was great to spend time with my Banister favorite, as we also planned get togethers with other Bio-family members in the upcoming days.