Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past commemorated the 56th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” On March 7, 1965, six hundred ordinary citizens of Selma, Alabama marched across the Edmond Pettus Bridge for the right to register to vote. At the end of the bridge, they were attacked by deputy sheriffs, police and state troops, some on horseback, some with gas masks and clubs wrapped in barbed wire. This became known as “Bloody Sunday.” The country was galvanized by what they had saw on television and it led to President Johnson asking for a voting rights act to guarantee the right of Black people to register to vote. This law was called the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We walked across the Mahoning Ave Bridge (Peanut Bridge) just as those citizens did.
We will always remember March 7, 1965. Let it be a reminder that we must constantly exercise our right to register to vote and to get out to vote in every election.