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Famed Selma march to be noted

The 40th anniversary celebration of the historic event will feature dramatic re-enactments.

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published February 18, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - The 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March for African-American voting rights will be commemorated Saturday with a march in downtown New Port Richey.

Sponsored by the New Port Richey Public Library, the march will start at the library's front steps, 5939 Main St., and go west on Main to Sims Park, where a program of music, talks and dramatic re-enactments will be given, said library spokesman Ann Scott.

The original "Bloody Sunday" march took place in Alabama along U.S 80 and was attempted three times before it was successful. The first attempt started out in Selma on March 7, but got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away before law officers attacked the group with billy clubs and tear gas and drove them back to town.

Two days later, Martin Luther King Jr. led a symbolic march to the bridge, before other civil rights workers obtained court protection for what was to become a major civil rights event.

On March 21, 1965, about 3,200 marchers left Selma, successfully crossed the bridge and walked 12 miles a day until they reached Montgomery on March 25. By then, there were more than 25,000 people in the march. That segment of the highway has been designated a National Historic Trail and All-American Road.

"We'll sing inspirational songs like Oh, Freedom and This Little Light of Mine ," Scott said. At the park, Palm Harbor teacher Brenda Dorsett will speak and lead activities related to Black History Month and the Selma-to-Montgomery March. Civil rights martyrs Jimmy Lee Jackson, the Rev. James Reeb, Viola Liuzzo and Jonathan Daniels will be honored.

[Last modified February 18, 2005, 00:15:15]