Re-enactment of the final leg of the 1965 march with a program reminiscent of the original, featuring speeches by past and modern day freedom fighters.
Community: Marion
Stars for Freedom Rally
Star-studded rally that mimics the original 1965 event with entertainment, performances, and inspirational speeches.
Family Fun Day
A resource-filled block party that includes marching bands, bouncy houses, face painting, vendors, and more!
This Side of the Bridge Gala
Black-tie gala to honor Civil Rights Icons and Community Heroes and conclude with live music and dancing. Tickets will be soon be available for purchase.
Highway 80 History Symposium: Exploring Alabama’s Civil Rights Corridor
Learn from scholars and foot soldiers about the lesser-known stories of civil rights along Alabama’s Highway 80.
The Annual Jimmie Lee Jackson Day
Join us to hear from Mrs. Mamie Booker. Mrs. Booker was the last person to see Mr. Jackson alive. She will share her story of his last six days, as she cared for him while serving as his nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital.
Commemorating the Marion Mass Meeting
More info coming soon.
Kickoff Event: Marion to Montgomery Bike Ride 2025
Join us as we commemorate the Marion Foot Soldiers, whose fight for voting rights and civil rights led to the Selma to Montgomery March. During the early months of 1965 residents of Marion Alabama, mainly young students began to start “good trouble” conducting sit-ins and marching for civil and voting rights. After the arrest of Mr. James Orange residents and students of Lincoln Normal School met at Zion United Methodist Church for a mass meeting that would end with a peaceful march to the Perry County Jail. Marchers were met with an angry mob of citizens and police, who beat the marchers and shot Lincoln graduate and Army Veteran Mr. Jimmie Lee Jackson.
At 5:00 pm at Lincoln Normal School on February 19, 2025 we will hear firsthand from the students who attended Lincoln and was recruited to become Foot Soldiers. Dr. Jannette Howard-Moore, Margaret Howard, and Edward Howard siblings from Marion who marched during Bloody Sunday, Dr. Moore was one of 17 people that were hospitalize after the assault on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. All three would go on to participate in the Selma to Montgomery march and along with others are somewhat responsible for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Start of Marion to Selma Bike Ride
Immediately after the death and funeral of Mr. Jimmie Lee Jackson activist started to think about how to show their deep resentment and anger towards the cavalier attitude of murdering another black man. In a planning meeting someone yelled, “we should take his body to Montgomery.” At first the march would have begun in Marion, AL and ended in Montgomery, but the small county roads and close tree lines made that option to0 dangerous, so it was decided that marchers would go from Selma to Montgomery.
The Marion to Selma Bike Ride will serve to honor the original planned march from Marion and highlight the contributions to gaining voting rights for all Americans that this small Black Belt community played.
Please register for the bike ride at a cost of $25. Riders will gather at 8:30 at the Marion Arts Center located at 314 Washington Street Marion, AL 36756. The ride will begin at 9:00 am.