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For the past decade, Community First and Genesis Project has been making trips to historical and educational sties all across Alabama.

Founders of the groups have dubbed it the Fantastic Voyage into History. Walter Wilson with Community First of Birmingham said this is their third time to come to Selma during their history.

On Saturday, April 26, the voyage took them to Selma and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The students from Birmingham, Midfield and Bessemer all got the chance to not only hear from local officials including City Council President Billy Young and Council Members Clay Carmichael, Christie Thomas, Jannie Thomas and others, but the group of 163 students also did a re-enactment of the Bloody Sunday March across the bridge.

“We’re talking about the history, the sacrifices that were made, the opportunities that are here for these young people. And we want them to take advantage of every opportunity,” Wilson said. “You got to have educators on the bus, police officers, people from different aspects of life to volunteer and give them time. They’re going to get an opportunity to talk to the mayor members of the city council to talk about Selma and Selma’s rich history and the struggle for equality.”

Jude Washington, founder of the Genesis Project, said the program has been around long enough that his daughter has gone from a student to one of the adult leaders of the group. The goal of these trips is to expose the students to a wide variety of experiences.

“We have some kids from Bessemer, Alabama, who have  never been outside of Bessemer,” Washington said. “And so, we stand by the phrase that a man who doesn’t know his past is doomed to repeat it. So a lot of them really don’t even know where they come from. They don’t understand history… So they don’t really get a chance to see it. What’s more intriguing about this entire thing is that whenever we bring somebody here or any other place, the attitude of these children change when we’re headed back.”

He said he wants top open the eyes and minds of the students to more opportunities that are available to them. In addition to the stop in Selma, they will be visiting state colleges and universities such as Alabama State, Tuskegee and the University of Alabama this year. They change up the list from year to year to try and expose the group to as much as they can.

“We want them to be able to have the choices,” Washington said. “Who would have thought of this whole bus trip? We got together one day. This is like ten, eleven years ago, and we said, yeah. Let’s make it happen.”