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The 60th Anniversary of some of the most momentous events in American History will be celebrated and memorialized in Selma, Alabama from Monday, March 3, through Friday, March 14.

A key part of the celebrations and commemorations will be the world-famous Bridge Crossing Jubilee, which takes place from Thursday, March 6, through Sunday, March 9.

Former Sen. Hank Sanders held a press conference last week to officially announce the event. This is the 33rd Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, and people come from all over the world to join in the celebrations, commemorations, memorials and marches.

“The Bridge Crossing Jubilee celebrates these events such as the Murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson, the Bloody Sunday march, the death of Rev. James Reed, the Selma to Montgomery March, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s National Address and the 1965 Voting Rights Act,” Sanders said. “We don’t know how many will attend, but we know that people not only come from across the country, but they come from other countries. They come from across the world because this is such a powerful symbol of voting rights, a powerful symbol of freedom, a powerful symbol of struggle, a powerful symbol of continuing to resist and a powerful symbol of democracy.”

Sanders said this year’s march could be a pivotal moment in the country.

“I never imagined that 60 years later we would still be fighting just to maintain elements of the Voting Rights Act,” Sanders said. “And so we value this democracy in a way that others may not value to the same extent. So it’s just important that this democracy be maintained because it has produced the greatest country in the world.”

The Bridge Crossing Jubilee begins this year on Thursday, March 6, with a series of events including the Voting Rights History Bowl for students and a Ministers of Justice Roundtable with pastors and other religious leaders discussing spiritual leadership in community movements in the past and present. It ends that night with the Old Fashion Mass Meeting with songs and speeches and prayers at Selma Tabernacle Baptist Church where the first mass meeting in the Selma Voting Rights Movement was held.

Friday’s events begin with an Education Summit followed by the Children’s Sojourn, the Invisible Giants Conference, the Voting Rights Mock Trial, and A Public Conversation as well as other events.

Saturday’s Jubilee activities start with the Foot Solider Breakfast and continue with many events including a Voting Rights Parade, the Street Festival, the Hip Hop Summit and the Freedom Flame Awards Gala. The Freedom Flame Awards honor outstanding past and present contributors to history. There are many other events set for this day including arts and cultural events and the annual street festival.

The final day of the Jubilee opens with the Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast on Sunday, March 9. It then continues with special morning services at various churches, the Bloody Sunday March and a massive gathering at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. There are also other events scheduled for that Sunday.

The official Bridge Crossing Jubilee has dozens of events, almost all of which are free to the public. Other groups hold unofficial events. These groups and events are not connected to the Jubilee, but some falsely claim they are Jubilee events.

The events leading to Bloody Sunday, the Selma to Montgomery March and the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act were sparked by the shooting and beating of Jimmie Lee Jackson on February 18, 1965 in Marion, Alabama. He died eight days later from his injuries, and the outrage over his death prompted high profile, history changing events of the 1965 Voting Rights Moment.

Marchers were beaten on March 7, 1965 as they first attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery. This became known as Bloody Sunday. Then the full Selma to Montgomery march took place from March 21, 1965 through March 25, 1965. The murders of Jimmie Lee Jackson, Reverend James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo as well as the brutal beatings on Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge horrified the nation. These events and the Selma to Montgomery March led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on August 6, 1965, This landmark legislation changed America in profound and positive ways and led to nearly all Americans finally having the right to vote.

Each year the Bridge Crossing Jubilee is the largest annual Civil Rights gathering in the nation. But the Jubilee commemorations and celebrations every ten years are always massive. For the 50th Anniversary there were more than 115 thousand people in attendance on the Sunday alone. The 60th is also expected to be massive. At the Annual Jubilee, there is something for everyone – from the very young to the very senior. It is a pilgrimage that many make every year from across the country and around the world.

Sanders said that specific speakers and other events will be confirmed at a later date.