Many of the major battles during the Civil Rights movement were waged in Alabama.
One of the most pivotal was Blood Sunday, when civil rights marchers were beaten when they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the march on Montgomery. This year marks the 45th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a fact not lost on some members of Congress.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) will co-host the 10th Congressional Pilgrimage to Alabama March 5-7. The pilgrimage includes events, meetings and tours in Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery, Ala.
"There are times when the walls between us come down," said Lewis in a release about the event. "We begin to see ourselves, not as Democrats or Republicans, not as members of the House or Senate, not as advocates of differing views, but we see ourselves as Americans on a journey to discover our roots."
Also scheduled to make the journey are Peter Yarrow, Bettie Mae Fikes and Dorothy Cotton.