The Edmund Pettus Bridge crosses the Alabama river in Selma on the road to Montgomery. This bridge was the scene of violent confrontations between Selma police and civil rights activists.
In March 1965 a Civil Rights march was held, led by Rev. Martin Luther King, from Selma Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery to demand the right to vote. Systematic local police violence against the marchers, forced US president Johnson to send in federal troops to protect the demonstrators right to march and eventually vote.
