Florida Women Travel To Selma For "Bloody Sunday" Anniversary
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SELMA, Ala. (CBSMiami/AP) — As thousands gather in Selma, Alabama on the 50th Anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" assault, two Florida women are also honoring the past.
Seventy-two-year-old Madeline McCloud of Gainesville, Florida, traveled overnight with a group of NAACP members from central Florida to get to Selma for the day. McCloud said she's both honoring the past and teaching young people about the importance of protecting civil rights.
"I marched with Dr. King in Albany, Georgia," she said. "For me this could be the end of the journey since I'm 72. I'm stepping back into the history we made."
McCloud traveled with Dennet Sails, who at 40 is trying to teach young blacks about what it took to gain equal rights.
"I want to make sure I understand the past so I can plan the future," said Sails, of Tampa, Florida.
All this as others hopped onto charter buses from across the nation, clogging traffic in the riverside town of 20,000.
It's a carnival atmosphere with vendors selling souvenirs commemorating the violent confrontation.
There was a parade, bands and historical programs before the nation's first black president was set to speak at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Former President George W. Bush also planned to attend. The congressional delegation includes U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, an Alabama native who was among the marchers seriously injured in the violence 50 years ago. Congressional Republican leaders were to be absent from the event, but House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio released a statement.
"Today, 50 years after the Selma to Montgomery marches began, the House honors the brave foot soldiers who risked their lives to secure the blessings of liberty for all Americans," he said.
In 1965, marchers crossing the bridge were beaten by police while demonstrating for voting rights.
The violence preceded the Selma-to-Montgomery march, which occurred two weeks later. Both helped build momentum for congressional approval of the Voting Rights Act later that year.
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