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.