This town of 18,000 in south central Alabama was a central focus in the voting-rights campagn of the 1960s, especially as the site of three marches to state capital Montgomery spearheaded by MLK as well as other figures such as Ralph Abernathy and the late eventual Congressman John Lewis. These marches were critical in marshalling support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 - especially the first one, during which marchers were brutally beaten by police on this very bridge. Other important Civil Rights sites in Selma - part of a National Park Service historic trail - include the Brown Chapel AME Church where King spoke and the marches were prepared; the Selma Interpretive Center, and the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute.at the foot of Pettus Bridge.
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