Selma in Dallas County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
'Bloody Sunday' Attack at Edmund Pettus Bridge
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U.S. Congress Approves Voting Rights Act of 1965
Photographed by Tim Fillmon, December 29, 2025
1. Recasting of marker. 'Bloody Sunday' Attack at Edmund Pettus Bridge side
A voting registration campaign in 1965 turned tragic Feb. 17 when an Alabama state trooper fatally shot Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion. It prompted a protest march from Selma to Montgomery that triggered a milestone event in the Civil Rights Movement.
On March 7, John Lewis and Hosea Williams led a group of 600 African Americans from Brown Chapel AME Church six blocks and across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. State Public Service Director Al Lingo ordered armed troopers to attack the marchers, hospitalizing 50.
Two weeks later, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy led a court-approved march with federal protection. It covered 54 miles and reached the State Capitol on March 25. In a speech before 25,000, King said "the arch of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." Racists killed Boston minister James Reeb on March 11 and Detroit housewife Viola Gregg Liuzzo on March 25.
this page online
during the 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the Selma Voting Rights Movement
Television coverage of 'Bloody Sunday' shocked millions and galvanized support for Congress to remove obstacles that prevented minorities from voting. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on Aug. 6. As a result, many blacks won local elections in the South.
In 2007, a bridge crossing reenactment attracted presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. When Obama won the Democratic nomination the following year, he spoke of the bridge in Selma in his acceptance speech. In 2009, nearly two million witnessed the inauguration of America's first black president.
"Selma," the Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay film about voting rights, was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award shortly before the 50th anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday.'
Erected 2015 by the Alabama Tourism Department.
Topics and series.
Photographed by Tim Fillmon, December 29, 2025
2. Recasting of marker. U.S. Congress Approves Voting Rights Act of 1965 side
Location. 32° 24.388′ N, 87° 1.14′ W. Marker is in Selma, Alabama, in Dallas County. It is at the intersection of Broad Street (Business U.S. 80) and Water Avenue, on the right when traveling north on Broad Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1112 Water Ave, Selma AL 36703, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, and in the Black Belt. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: This Tablet Commemorates the Visit of Lafayette (about 300 feet away, measured
Photographed by Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015
3. 'Bloody Sunday' Attack at Edmund Pettus Bridge (Side 1)
Another marker is no longer nearby. The Selma Movement (was here, next to this marker but has been permanently removed).
More about this marker. This marker was broken in a car crash.
Another marker, The Selma Movement (#37662), was located in this exact spot and was also broken in a car crash.
Also see . . .
1. Selma, Alabama, (Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965)
Photographed by Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015
4. U.S. Congress Approves Voting Rights Act of 1965 Marker (Side 2)
2. Wikipedia article on Voting Rights Act of 1965. (Submitted on March 26, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)
Additional commentary.
1. New marker replaced damaged one
A replacement marker was erected that is a duplicate of the original.
— Submitted January 1, 2026, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, May 28, 2023
5. No evidence of any marker being here. Two markers hit by vehicles over time.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015
6. View up Broad Street from marker.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015
7. View of Edmund Pettus Bridge from marker.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, March 25, 2015
8. Edmund Pettus Bridge across Alabama River.
Edmund Pettus was a Confederate general during the Civil War, during which he was captured three times. After the war he was a Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan and a Democratic U.S. Senator.
Photographed by Pat Filippone, September 26, 2016
9. Edmund Pettus Bridge across Alabama River
View is travelling north.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 30, 2014
10. View from Washington Street of Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, June 1, 2020
11. Second time a marker at this same spot has been hit in car crash.
As of May 28, 2023, even the pole is gone.
FBI photo via Wikipedia Commons, March 7, 1965
12. Bloody Sunday - Alabama police attack Selma-to-Montgomery Marchers, 1965
Credits. This page was last revised on January 1, 2026. It was originally submitted on March 26, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 4,293 times since then and 201 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 1, 2026, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. 3, 4. submitted on March 26, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 5. submitted on May 28, 2023, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 6, 7, 8. submitted on March 26, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 9. submitted on October 8, 2016, by Pat Filippone of Stockton, California. 10. submitted on October 8, 2016, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 11. submitted on June 1, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 12. submitted on February 17, 2018, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio.
