March Across Gay Street Bridge Kicks Off Event to Mark 50th Anniversary of Selma's 'Bloody Sunday'

Communications Director

Kristin Farley
[email protected]
(865) 215-2589

400 Main St., Room 691
Knoxville, TN 37902

Last item for navigation
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share via Email
News item

March Across Gay Street Bridge Kicks Off Event to Mark 50th Anniversary of Selma's 'Bloody Sunday'

Posted: 02/27/2015
A march across the Gay Street Bridge and a program of music and theatrical performance Sunday, March 8, 2015 will mark the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march in Selma, Ala., that came to be known as "Bloody Sunday."

The event, sponsored by the City of Knoxville as part of an ongoing celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is free and open to the public.

The march will step off from the southern end of the Gay Street Bridge at 2 p.m., and proceed across the bridge, right on Hill Avenue, and then left on Hall of Fame Drive to the Civic Auditorium and Coliseum. The musical and theatrical program will begin at 3 p.m. in the Civic Coliseum Ballroom.

Anyone wishing to participate in the march Sunday, March 8th, should park in the garages at the Auditorium and Coliseum and take a free shuttle bus to the southern end of the Gay Street Bridge. Shuttles will be running starting at 12:45 p.m. and ending at 1:45 p.m.

The Gay Street Bridge and parade route will be temporarily closed to vehicle traffic for the duration of the march.

"This is a chance to pay tribute to the civil rights organizers and marchers who risked their lives to secure the right to vote for all Americans," said Joshalyn Hundley, Title VI Coordinator for the City of Knoxville.

The program at the Civic Coliseum Ballroom will include a performance by The Carpetbag Theatre, songs from the Northwest Middle School student choir and spoken word performances by local artist Black Atticus.

The "Bloody Sunday" march on March 7, 1965 - dramatized in the recent film "Selma" - was the first of three marches attempting to travel from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery to advocate for African-American voting rights. As marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge out of Selma, they encountered a large contingent of Alabama state troopers and county law enforcement officers who attacked the marchers with nightsticks and tear gas.

The publicity generated by the march helped persuade President Lyndon B. Johnson to introduce the Voting Rights Act to Congress on March 17, 1965. The Act was signed into law on Aug. 6, 1965.

Click here for more information on the march and other related events.