The life and legacy of an Alabama trailblazer in the Civil Rights movement will be celebrated today. The Southern Poverty Law Center will host a wreath-laying ceremony honoring the late Congressman John Lewis. This will take place at the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery.
Margaret Huang is the president and CEO of the SPLC. She says the Congressman led a delegation of his colleagues and Civil Rights leaders for this annual event in the past.
“He very much was somebody who always remembered the foot soldiers,” said Huang. “That’s how he called his fellow activists from the Civil Rights movement. And so, he wanted to lift up their contributions. And to recognize that it wasn’t only the famous names, the recognizable faces. But it was everyday people who joined the movement to help make it come about.”
President Joe Biden will attend the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee on Sunday, which commemorates the 1965 attack on voting rights marchers. White police beat Black civil rights marchers attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. Huang says the SPLC ceremony also honors those who died in “Bloody Sunday.”
“So, this event, along with many others, over the course of the three days from Friday to Sunday, will remember the legacy of that incredible march and the activists who spearheaded the protection of our democracy,” said Huang.
The SPLC says this is the first time the ceremony has taken place since 2020 when Congressman Lewis died.
