On Tuesday, the White House announced President Joe Biden would visit Selma on the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
This will be Biden's third time attending the Selma annual voting rights commemoration, but this will be his first as president.
The annual commemoration has become a regular stop for politicians, with notable presidential attendees including Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
It is also a possible hint that Biden will be on the ballot in 2024, given that it has served as a traditional stop for presidential hopefuls. Biden last appeared in Selma for the bridge commemoration in 2020 while campaigning.
Community leaders and civil rights activists annually commemorate the march in memory of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, in support of black voting rights. The march concluded with police beating and tear-gassing marchers,
Late civil rights leader and eventual Georgia Congressman John Lewis led the march. Over 600 people set off from Brown Chapel AME Church, eventually finding a wall of state troopers and sheriff's deputies.
After standing their ground on the bridge, police advanced on the marchers and began to beat them with Billy Clubs and barrage the crowd with tear gas.
The event led to the eventual passing of the Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson that same year.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
