The Edmund Pettus Bridge was designated a National Historic Landmark on Monday — a week after thousands crossed it to commemorate “Bloody Sunday” and the subsequent successful march from Selma to Montgomery 48 years ago.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis announced the latest honor bestowed on the span crossing the Alabama River.
The bridge is one of 13 new national historic landmarks including the site of a Kentucky training center for black soldiers during the Civil War and the house where anti-slavery advocate Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in Connecticut.
The joint announcement in Washington mentioned the Pettus Bridge first, citing a violent incident on March 7, 1965, when Alabama law enforcement officers routed 600 black marchers seeking to walk to Montgomery to press for equal voting rights. (USA Today)