NAACP plans trip to Selma for 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday

TAMPA — This year, people throughout the nation will remember the March across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala.  On March 7, 1965, a group of African Americans attempted to march from Selma, Ala. to Montgomery, Ala., for civil rights and voting rights.

The police attacked and beat the group of non-violent protesters.  The brutal attack was enhanced with law enforcement’s use of water hoses and dogs.  The day became etched in history as “Bloody Sunday.”

Next month, the Hillsborough County Branch of the NAACP will attend the 50th Anniversary of the conflict.  A tour bus will leave Tampa on Fri., March 6 and return Mon., March 9.

The cost of the trip will include the roundtrip bus fare, a two-night stay in a hotel in Montgomery, Ala., and admission to the Street Festival.  The group will also visit the historic Brown’s AME Chapel for the re-enactment and take the walk across the Edmund Pettis Bridge.

There will be a series of workshops that will discuss such topics such as “Race, Poverty and the Injustice System,” “Health Care for All: Now Is the Time,” “Alabama Unafraid: Latino Immigrant Activism Post-House Bill 56,” The role of Education in the Liberation of a People,” “Still Separate, Still Unequal: Combating Racial Segregation Under the Fair Housing Act and other Civil rights Laws,” “Environmental Justice,” and other subjects of interest.

Civil rights activists such as Claudette Colvin, Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Robert “Bob” Moses, Diane Nash, and Rev. C.T. Vivian will be in attendance, along with President Barack Obama, Congresswoman Kathy Castor and others.

The group may also tour the Freedom Rides Museum, the National Center for the Civil Rights & African American Cultural Museum, and the Rosa Parks Library & Museum.

There are a few more seats left on the bus, and if needed, a second bus is on standby.  Please contact the NAACP Office at 813-234-8683 and reserve your seat NOW.