THE SELMA TIMES-JOURNAL

Those who participated in Bloody Sunday more than four decades ago, and those who only know it through history gathered in Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday to relive the past.

Lewis led more than 3,000 marchers across the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge in the remembrance several hours later. The meeting at Brown Chapel and the march ended a three-day commemoration of the day in which 600 civil rights workers were routed by Alabama state troopers March 7, 1965, as they attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow Coalition also spoke to the crowd at Brown Chapel. He referenced those, black and white, who were killed during the movement to achieve voting rights: Viola Liuzzo of Detroit, the Rev. James Reeb of Boston and Jimmie Lee Jackson of Marion.

A one point during the Sunday morning service, after Lewis spoke about being beaten at the foot of the bridge, suffering a concussion and going to the Good Samaritan Hospital, a young woman ran down the aisle.

Joya Nye, a student from Georgia State University, pleaded for a moment to speak. She looked at Lewis. &8220;I just wanted to say thank you for what you did.&8221;

Lewis came from the pulpit and hugged her.