Alabama took a step toward renaming the historic Selma bridge, known as the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the
Bloody Sunday beatings of civil rights marchers originally took place in 1965. The Alabama Senate voted Wednesday to rename the 75-year-old structure the Journey to Freedom Bridge after a group called Students UNITE collected 180,000 signatures in support of the effort. Brian Lyman has
the details of the resolution's text:
"There are many things in our society to change that are more significant than the name of a bridge, but removing this vestige of the past will serve as a parallel to the ongoing journey towards equal rights, fair representation and open opportunity," the resolution says.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge is particularly controversial because it is the namesake of a notorious Ku Klux Klan member.
The bridge was named after Edmund Pettus, a Confederate general who later served in the U.S. Senate. Pettus was elected a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in 1877, at the tail end of Reconstruction, and served in the terrorist organization for at least a year. According to a 2014 Smithsonian Magazine article, Pettus campaigned for the U.S. Senate on his time in the Ku Klux Klan and his opposition to the Reconstruction amendments that granted the ballot and citizenship to freed slaves.
The resolution has not yet passed the House of Representatives and its Senate sponsor, Democrat Hank Sanders, wasn't sure what its fate might be there. Reportedly, only two more days are left in the legislative session.