AUGUSTA, Maine - The Maine House today passed a resolution commemorating the last of the Selma to Montgomery marches, which reached the steps of the Alabama Capitol 50 years ago today.
The march, in support of voting rights in the U.S., was the last of three held in March of 1965, and the first to traverse the entire 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery.
The first march ended when the unarmed marchers were violently confronted by state troopers and others in what has become known as Bloody Sunday.
The House resolution was sponsored by Winthrop Democratic Rep. Craig Hickman, who read excerpts from the speech Dr. Martin Luther King delivered at the culmination of the march.
"How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever. How long? Not long, because you shall reap what you sow. How long? Not long, because the ark of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
By the time the group reached the steps of the Alabama Capitol, the number of marchers had grown to 25,000.
