Selma’s Bridge Crossing Jubilee To Honor The Late Rev. Jesse Jackson
The 61st annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma will pay a special tribute to the memory of civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson during this weekend's event. Organizers are expecting the late activist's youngest son, Yusef Jackson, to attend.
Rev. Jackson often attended the annual commemoration of "Bloody Sunday" when Alabama State Troopers and Dallas County Sheriff's deputies beat marchers for voting rights as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in downtown Selma, headed to Montgomery.
At 23 years old, Jackson answered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s call to march for voting rights in Selma. He wasn't at "Bloody Sunday", but he did participate in the eventual completion of that march to the Alabama State Capital steps. He came back many times after that.
Jackson's last appearance at the annual commemoration of the event that sparked the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act was last year. In a wheelchair, he crossed the bridge he often walked across.
“Somebody asked me what I think Jesse would want,” former Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders said in reflecting on his friend's ties to Selma. “He would want us to continue the struggle. This country is on the verge of losing this democracy he spent 60 years trying to include people in.”
Non-violence training began the jubilee week Monday, but the weekend of commemoration gets underway Thursday and extends through the Sunday recreation of the bridge crossing, a tribute to the "Foot Soldiers" of the civil rights movement and a re-enactment of the Brown vs Board of Education trial that open the doors to integration of public schools.
Click HERE for the complete schedule of events for the 61st Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee.
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