"61 Years After Bloody Sunday, We Are Entering a New Era of Voter Suppression" #ELB

Commentary: As the Old Guard of civil rights finish their march, ours must continue

By Steven Ragsdale This past weekend, thousands gathered in Alabama for the annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee Celebration, retracing the famous steps across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where civil rights marchers once faced violence for demanding the right to vote. As the nation reflected on that history, many of today’s and yesterday’s activists also mourned the recent passing of three people who helped shape it—Bernard Lafayette Jr., one of th…

Selma remembrance reflected joy in the struggle

SELMA, Ala.—The streets of Selma buzzed with excitement last weekend. In the lead-up to the 61st anniversary of the infamous Bloody Sunday attack, when unarmed civil rights marchers attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge were violently brutalized by a gang of Alabama State Troopers, the small Alabama city was transformed into what was effectively one giant convention. The Bridge Crossing Jubilee, which officially kicked off on Monday, Marc…

"61 Years After Bloody Sunday, We Are Entering a New Era of Voter Suppression" #ELB

Janai Nelson in The Nation: They didn’t know it then, but their fearless actions on a bridge in Selma would set in motion a series of events that would dramatically alter the course of history, dividing the struggle for civil… Continue reading The post “61 Years After Bloody Sunday, We Are Entering a New Era of Voter Suppression” appeared first on Election Law Blog.

Author and civil rights activist Ruby Bridges to speak at Wisconsin Union Directorate event April 8

Author and civil rights activist Ruby Bridges will give an address at Shannon Hall in Memorial Union on Wednesday, April 8 at 7 p.m., at a Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) Committee event, presented in collaboration with the WUD Society and Politics Committee. In 1960, at the age of six, Bridges became the first Black student to integrate into an all-white elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her walk …

On 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday, worries about the future of voting rights and calls to action

SELMA — Sixty-one years after state troopers attacked Civil Rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, thousands gathered in the Alabama city this weekend amid new concerns about the future of the Voting Rights Act.