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

The March 7, 1965, violence that became known as Bloody Sunday shocked the nation and helped spur passage of the landmark legislation that dismantled barriers to voting for Black Americans in the Jim Crow South.

But this year’s anniversary celebrations – events run all weekend and end with a commemorative march across the bridge Sunday – come as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case that could limit a provision of the Voting Rights Act that has helped ensure some congressional and local districts are drawn so minority voters have a chance to elect their candidate of choice.

“I’m concerned that all of the advances that we made for the last 61 years are going to be eradicated,” said Charles Mauldin, 78, one of the marchers who was beaten that day.

Justices are expected to rule soon on a Louisiana case regarding the role of race in drawing congressional districts. A ruling prohibiting or limiting that role could have sweeping consequences, potentially opening the door for Republican-controlled states to redistrict and roll back majority Black and Latino districts that tend to favor Democrats.

Democratic officeholders, civil rights leaders and others have descended on the southern city to pay homage to the pivotal moment of the Civil Rights Movement and to issue calls to action. Like the marchers on Bloody Sunday, they must keep pressing forward, organizers said.

Former state Sen. Hank Sanders, who helped start the annual commemoration, said the 1965 events in Selma marked a turning point in the nation and helped push the United States closer to becoming a true democracy.

“The feeling is a profound fear that we will be taken back – a greater fear than at any time since 1965,” Sanders said.

U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures won election in 2024 to an Alabama district that was redrawn by the federal court. He said what happened in Selma and the subsequent passage of the Voting Rights Act “was monumental in shaping what America looks like and how America is represented in Congress.”

“I think coming to Selma is a refreshing reminder every single year that the progress that we got from the Civil Rights Movement is not perpetual. It’s been under consistent attacks almost since we’ve gotten those rights,” Figures said.

In 1965, the Bloody Sunday marchers led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams walked in pairs across the Selma bridge headed toward Montgomery. Mauldin, then 17, was part of the third pair behind Williams and Lewis.

At the apex of the bridge, they could see the sea of law enforcement officers, including some on horseback, waiting for them. But they kept going. “Being fearful was not an option. And it wasn’t that we didn’t have fear, it’s that we chose courage over fear,” Mauldin recalled in a telephone interview.

“We were all hit. We were trampled. We were tear-gassed. And we were brutalized by the state of Alabama,” Mauldin said.

No. 15 Alabama men’s golf closed the opening round of The Hayt with a team score of 9-under par 279 and enter Sunday’s second round in a tie for third overall. The Crimson Tide trails leaders LSU by five strokes.

The Crimson Tide saw two competitors land in the individual top 10 as Nick Gross is tied for second at 5-under par 67 and Brycen Jones is in seventh overall at 4-under 68. Gross finished the day with three consecutive birdies. Jonathan Griz and Jack Mitchell finished the first round even on the scorecard and tied for 35th while William Jennings shot 4-over par.

Crimson Tide Roll Call: Sunday, March 8, 2026

Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday results:

• Baseball: Alabama 9, North Florida 3
• Soccer: Alabama 5, UAB 1
• Men’s Golf: Tied for 3rd after the first round at the Hayt Tournament
• Women’s Tennis: Texas A&M 4, Alabama 1
• Men’s Basketball: Alabama 96, Auburn 84

Alabama Crimson Tide Sunday schedule:

• Men’s Golf: The Hayt Tournament Round 1, North Florida, Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
• Swimming and Diving: Diving NCAA Qualifying, Athens, Ga., 11:15 a.m. WATCH
• Softball: Alabama at Ole Miss, Oxford, Miss., 1 p.m., SEC Network+, 100.1 FM
• Men’s Tennis: Alabama at Auburn, Auburn, Ala., 1 p.m., WATCH
• Baseball: Alabama vs North Florida, 1 p.m., Tuscaloosa, Ala., SEC Network +
• Gymnastics: Alabama at Illinois, Champagne, Ill., 2 p.m. BIG10+

Countdown to Alabama Football’s 2026 season opener

181 days

On this date in Alabama Crimson Tide history:

March 8, 1982: More than 1,000 people, including a throng of Paul W. “Bear” Bryant’s former players, paid $125 a plate at a black-tie dinner at the Sheraton Hotel in Washington, D.C. honoring the fabled coach. In a telephone call, President Ronald Reagan told Bryant: “The real contribution you have made are the differences you have made in the lives of so many young people.”

Alabama Crimson Tide Quote of the Day:

“If wanting to win is a fault, as some of my critics seem to insist, then I plead guilty. I like to win. I know no other way. It’s in my blood.”

Paul W. “Bear” Bryant

We’ll leave you with this…

The Alabama football team had representatives on hand during the Alabama-Auburn basketball game to accept The Foy-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy. The trophy is awarded to the winner of the football game at said university’s home turn of the basketball series.

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