House passes resolution marking Selma voting-rights march

The House on Thursday afternoon approved a resolution directing the Office of the Historian to compile the oral histories of former and current members of Congress involved in the historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. That march culminated in the 1965 Voting Rights Act, giving blacks across the country the right to vote.

The resolution, H.Res. 562, passed unanimously, 418-0.

"I'm so pleased that this resolution will preserve the oral history of current and former members of Congress who participated in the civil rights movement," said Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who added that it would also capture the experiences of members who have participated in commemorative marches in Alabama since then. "Together we have retraced the steps that were walked so many years ago, and spent time with some of the people who shaped the civil rights movement."

Lewis was the leader of the March 7, 1965, demonstration in which 600 black protesters who wanted the right to vote were met at the Edmund Pettus Bridge by police officers who violently beat the marchers back, since known as Bloody Sunday.

"We left Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church that morning on a sacred mission, prepared to defy the dictates of man, to demonstrate the truth of a higher law," Lewis said. He said Bloody Sunday "produced a kind of righteous indignation in the country and around the world that led this Congress to pass the Voting Rights act of 1965."

Two days later, Martin Luther King Jr. led another march to the same bridge and prayed. Then, on March 21, King led a 54-mile march to the state capitol.

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) recalled on the floor that upon reaching Montgomery, with thousands of followers, King said, "We are on the move now." The Voting Rights Act was signed into law on Aug. 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson.

"The magnitude and importance of this historic event is undeniable and its significance to American history must never be forgotten," Lungren said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on all Americans to visit Alabama to learn about the march, and thanked Lewis for bringing members of Congress to annual marches in Alabama over the years.

"This is a very important part of who we are as a country," Pelosi said. "If you want to learn about America, it's important to visit these sites, to see the courage, to see the commitment to the values of our Founders that were so courageously defended and advocated for."

On the floor Thursday morning, Lewis recalled President Johnson's words to a joint session of Congress soon after Bloody Sunday, in which he called for the Voting Rights Act. Lewis said Johnson's remarks were the most important words ever spoken by a president on the issue of voting rights.

" 'I speak tonight for the dignity of man and for the destiny of democracy,' " Lewis quoted Johnson as saying.

"And during that speech, President Johnson condemned the violence in Selma, and called on the Congress to [approve] the Voting Rights Act," Lewis said. "He closed his speech by invoking the words of the civil rights movement, saying over and over, 'And we shall overcome. And we shall overcome.' "