Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was among the marchers in 1965 and will join the president on his trip. Obama to visit Selma on Bloody Sunday

President Barack Obama will visit Selma, Alabama, in March to mark the 50th anniversary of civil rights demonstrators’ march across the state to Montgomery, the White House said Tuesday.

The trip is slated for March 7, an official said, and will “highlight the president and his administration’s overall efforts to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”


The date of the trip marks what’s come to be known as Bloody Sunday, the day when state and local authorities attacked protesters as they marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was among those in the 1965 march and will join the president on his trip.

On Friday, the president and first lady Michelle Obama hosted the cast and crew of the newly released film “Selma” for a screening at the White House.