Bridge bash pushed back to June 30
Published 10:15 pm Monday, June 15, 2015
The birthday celebration for the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge has been pushed back to June 30.
According to Councilwoman Susan Keith, who is planning the birthday bash, the celebration was moved due to conflicts with Juneteenth, the anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States.
“In light of recent events surrounding the bridge, I think it could be hurtful or offensive to some of us, and all things considered it will certainly be best for us to delay that celebration in spirit of all things right,” Keith said.
The original celebration was planned for June 19 at 5:30 p.m. at Songs of Selma Park at the foot of the bridge on the Selma side.
In a year where the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma were celebrated, Keith said the city felt like it was only right to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the bridge.
“This being a year of celebrations, we didn’t want to see it left out of the celebrations,” Keith said. “There are people who it would be so meaningful to have a celebration of the bridge, some of them being people who used to work at Craig Air Force Base, some people who were around when the bridge was first inaugurated and it would just be a meaningful thing to them.”
While the final details haven’t been put in stone yet, Keith said planners are working to put together a short ceremony.
“It’s not going to be anything real long and drawn out,” Keith said. “But we’re just going to have something to commemorate it and give people the opportunity to come down and be a part of a celebration and commemoration.”
The bridge was opened May 25, 1940, and took the place of a wooden swing bridge.
Despite recent controversy surrounding the name of the bridge, Mayor George Evans said it deserves to be celebrated just like other anniversaries have been.
“It has significance to our city because of what it stands for and what it meant to history,” Evans said. “Naturally, the question of the name itself is controversial in terms of [Edmund Pettus] being a Klansmen, but never the less, that was over 75 years ago.”
A resolution, which was written by Sen. Hank Sanders, called for the bridge to be renamed the Journey to Freedom Bridge. The resolution passed the Senate, but it did not make it to the floor of the House of Representatives.
The resolution was introduced after Students Unite gathered more than 180,000 signatures on a petition calling for the renaming of the bridge.
The bridge provides a way for traffic to come in and out of the city of Selma, but it also provides a daily reminder for the people that live here and a history lesson for people that visit Selma.
“There are so many positive things that can come from the bridge and the fact that it not only serves as a gateway, but it also serves as a historical marker that can bring about a history lesson by itself,” Evans said. “It provides travel from one part of the county into the city and pedestrians, and it also provides a tourist attraction. People come and walk across it and take pictures because it reminds them of 1965 in terms of Bloody Sunday.”
Keith said more details on the bridge celebration will be released later this week.