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The University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) considers Selma a key piece of its ninth annual Civil Rights and Social Justice Experience.

Fifty UTSA students made their visit to Selma on Thursday afternoon. They crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which was the site of Bloody Sunday in March, 1965. The protest march from Selma to Montgomery eventually led to the Voting Rights Acts of 1965.

“It’s an honor and privilege to bring our students to Selma,” UTSA Student Leadership Center Interim Director Eliot Howard said. “We want the students to experience an important part of history.”

Lauren Horton and Analisa Sulaica were among the UTSA students who visited the Queen City last year.

“It’s an honor to come back to Selma and bring students who have never been to Selma before,” said Horton, a senior Public Health major. “Being on this trip is important to honor those sacrificed their lives for us and show respect.”

Sulaica, a sophomore majoring in Mexican-American studies, said the experience is an opportunity to honor her grandparents.

“I’m not black, but my grandparents are Mexican-American and they also went through the struggle in Texas,” Sulaica said. “The trip is real important.”

 

The UTSA students also visited the 18^th-century Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, and Jackson, Mississippi to tour the Mississippi Museum of Civil Rights and William Winter Institute.

 

Students will discuss their trip about the historic Civil Rights Movement at a reflection session at UTSA from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. on Jan. 27.