On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the 2018 Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage will bring some 30 members of Congress to Alabama for the weekend as a bipartisan delegation visits civil rights sites in Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma.
The details:
— “This pilgrimage is such an incredible experience every year and it is especially significant this year as we observe the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s death,” said Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) in a statement to Yellowhammer News.
— “Many of us will have the privilege of visiting the 16th Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, Brown Chapel AME Church, Edmund Pettus Bridge, and other sacred monuments in the history of the civil rights and voting rights movements,” she said. “These sites remind us of the men, women, and children who fought for our right to be free.”
— Among the participants from Alabama’s congressional delegation joining Sewell are Gary Palmer (R-Hoover), Martha Roby (R-Montgomery), and Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope), as well as Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook).
— On Friday, the leaders are in Birmingham visiting the 16th Street Baptist Church and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
— On Saturday, the group will visit Southern Poverty Law Center and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery to participate in a wreath-laying there.
— On Sunday afternoon, the group will also march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, reliving what happened on “Bloody Sunday” 53 years ago next week.
— Other participants include Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland).
