By Blake Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal

Selma has seen its fair share of special visitors over the last few months, but no other visit can quite hail in comparison to President Barack Obama’s trip to the Queen City Saturday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery marches.

More than 40,000 people filled the streets of Selma to witness history, as the President spoke at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge 50 years to the day when marchers were beaten, gassed and trampled on Bloody Sunday.

As the President sat at the foot of the bridge patiently waiting to speak to the free world, he was introduced by a man he called his hero, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, an icon of the Voting Rights Movement.

“It is a rare honor in this life to follow one of your heroes. And John Lewis is one of my heroes,” Obama said. “Now, I have to imagine that when a younger John Lewis woke up that morning 50 years ago and made his way to Brown Chapel, heroics were not on his mind. A day like this was not on his mind.”

As the thousands listened, Obama thanked the foot soldiers that helped change the course of history in 1965. Among the foot soldiers in attendance were Amelia Boynton-Robinson and Frederick D. Reese, the last two surviving members of the Courageous Eight.

“Because of what they did, the doors of opportunity swung open not just for black folks, but for every American,” Obama said. “Women marched through those doors. Latinos marched through those doors. Asian Americans, gay Americans, Americans with disabilities — they all came through those doors. Their endeavors gave the entire South the chance to rise again, not by reasserting the past, but by transcending the past.”

Once the final words of Obama’s speech echoed through Selma, the President was joined by others to make the journey across that infamous bridge to honor those that did so fearlessly in 1965.

Joining the First Family on the front line were President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, Amelia Boynton-Robinson, F.D. Reese, John Lewis and others.

As they walked hand in hand, they sang “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” an anthem of the Voting Rights Movement.

They paused at the top of the bridge, as Lewis pointed to a spot on the bridges and recalled the story of Bloody Sunday and the horror he went through that day.

After making the trip across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the First Family took a tour of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, where they looked at items that were worn and used in the movement.

“Our march is not yet finished, but we are getting closer. Two hundred and thirty-nine years after this nation’s founding, our union is not yet perfect, but we are getting closer,” Obama said. “Our job’s easier because somebody already got us through that first mile. Somebody already got us over that bridge. When it feels the road [is] too hard, when the torch we’ve been passed feels too heavy, we will remember these early travelers, and draw strength from their example.”