[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 14, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H4913-H4917]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SELMA TO MONTGOMERY NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL

  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1129) to amend the National Trails Systems Act to designate 
the route from Selma to Montgomery as a national historic trail, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 1129

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled, That 
     section 5(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 
     1244(a)) is amended by adding at the end thereof the 
     following new paragraph:
       ``( ) The Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, 
     consisting of 54 miles of city streets and United States 
     Highway 80 from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma to the 
     State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama, traveled by 
     voting rights advocates during March 1965 to dramatize the 
     need for voting rights legislation, as generally described in 
     the report of the Secretary of the Interior prepared pursuant 
     to subsection (b) of this section entitled `Selma to 
     Montgomery' and dated April 1993. Maps depicting the route 
     shall be on file and available for public inspection in the 
     Office of the National Park Service, Department of the 
     Interior. The trail shall be administered in accordance with 
     this Act, including section 7(h). The Secretary of the 
     Interior, acting through the National Park Service, which 
     shall be the lead Federal agency, shall cooperate with other 
     Federal, State and local authorities to preserve historic 
     sites along the route, including (but not limited to) the 
     Edmund Pettus Bridge and the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Utah [Mr. Hansen] and the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Richardson] 
will each be recognized for 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah [Mr. Hansen].
  (Mr. HANSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1129 designates the route from Selma to Montgomery, 
AL, as a national historic trail. This route is the site of one of the 
most significant protest demonstrations of the modern civil rights 
movements, which led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act 
of 1965. The National Park Service, pursuant to a previous act of 
Congress, has studied the trail and found that it merits designation as 
a national historic trail. It is important to note that the National 
Park Service felt the events which took place at this site were so 
significant that it warranted waiving the customary 50-year waiting 
period for designation of historic sites.
  The language including in the bill by the subcommittee makes it clear 
that by enactment of this legislation, Congress will not be 
establishing the Selma to Montgomery Trail as a new unit of the 
National Park System. Only 2 of the approximately 15 congressionally 
designated trails are currently units of the park system. However, the 
definition of what constitutes a unit of the park system is so unclear, 
that the other trails could be easily added at a later date by 
administrative action. In this case, there are no Federal lands in the 
area, and it makes good sense of the NPS to work with other co-
operators in the administration of this trail. It is important to point 
out that in making this amendment, it is not my intention that this 
trail should receive any less financial or administrative support than 
any other trail where the NPS currently serves as the lead agency.
  This is an important bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

[[Page H4914]]

  (Mr. RICHARDSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis], the hero of the civil rights 
struggle, the author of this bill.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, let me just say that I am pleased 
and delighted to stand here today as this bill is voted on. I want to 
thank the Chairman Young and Chairman Hansen for their support of this 
bill. I also want to thank the ranking members of the committee, Mr. 
Miller and Mr. Richardson. I also want to recognize Mr. Hilliard  who 
represents Selma and Montgomery. I also want to recognize Mr. Vento for 
all of his help since we began this process. I want to thank all of you 
for your help and support.
  This bill is very important to me and to many others. I believe that 
designating the route from Selma to Montgomery as a National Historic 
Trail is very fitting and appropriate. The march from Selma to 
Montgomery was a turning point in the journey to the Voting Rights Act 
of 1965. It was a long and difficult journey.
  Before the civil rights movement, most blacks in the South could not 
vote. There were certain political subdivisions in the South--from 
Virginia to Texas--where 50 to 80 percent of the population was black, 
but there was not a single black registered voter. The few who were 
allowed to register were harassed, intimidated, and even beaten when 
they tried to exercise their precious right to vote.
  In Lowndes County, AL, between Selma and Montgomery, the county was 
more than 80 percent black, and there was not a single registered black 
voter. In Selma, the county seat of majority black Dallas County, only 
2.1 percent of voting age blacks were registered to vote.
  So, to dramatize the need for voting rights legislation, a peaceful, 
nonviolent march from Selma to Montgomery was planned.
  On Sunday, March 7, 1965, in the afternoon, a group of people left 
the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, walking in two's. It was a silent, 
nonviolent, peaceful protest, walking through the streets of Selma.
  When we reached the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, we saw a sea of 
blue--Alabama State troopers. The Governor of Alabama, at that time, 
George Wallace, had issued a statement the day before saying the march 
would not be allowed. The sheriff of Dallas County, a man by the name 
of Jim Clark, on the night before the march, had requested that all 
white men over the age of 21 come down to the Dallas County Courthouse 
to be deputized to become part of his posse to stop the march.
  As we cross over the bridge on that Sunday afternoon, we faced the 
State troopers and a man identified himself and said:

       I am Major John Cloud of the Alabama State Troopers. I give 
     you 3 minutes to disperse and go back to your church. This is 
     an unlawful march, and it will not be allowed to continue.

  In less than 1\1/2\ minutes, Major John Cloud said, ``Troopers 
advance,'' and we saw the troopers put on their gas masks. They came 
toward us, beating us with nightsticks, bullwhips, trampling us with 
horses, and using tear gas.
  That day became known as Bloody Sunday. There was a sense of 
righteous indignation all across the country. People could not 
understand what they saw on television and read in the paper.
  Two days later, the marchers, joined by religious leaders from around 
the country, made a second attempt but turned back to avoid more 
bloodshed. After that march, a young white minister from Boston, James 
Reed, was beaten by the Klan and later died.
  One week later, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the Nation and 
called for passage of the Voting Rights Act. He said:

       I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of 
     democracy. At times, history and fate meet at a single time 
     in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending 
     search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it 
     was a century ago in Appomattox. And so it was last week in 
     Selma, Alabama.

  It was one of the most moving speeches I ever heard an American 
President make.
  Finally, on March 21, 1965, the marchers were allowed to proceed. 
However, during that week of marching, Viola Liuzzo, a housewife from 
Detroit, was shot and killed.
  As a direct result of these events, the Voting Rights Act was signed 
into law on August 6, 1965.
  The history along this route is precious. It is imperative that we 
preserve and interpret this history. Even more than 30 years later, 
standing at the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge is a powerful 
experience. The trail reminds us of where we were in 1965 and how far 
we have come as a Nation and as a people.
  Today, too few people cherish the right to vote. In the 1992 
Presidential election, only 56 percent of the voting age population 
voted. In 1994, in the congressional elections, only 38 percent voted.
  This trail will remind people that Americans--black and white, young 
and old, from the North and South--shedded blood. Some even gave their 
lives--to win the right for every American to vote.
  It is my hope and belief that the history told along this trail will 
inspire more people to become involved in the democratic process.
  By designating the route from Selma to Montgomery as a national 
historic trail, we will help educate and remind people of the right and 
responsibility to vote. We will also give well-deserved recognition to 
the men and women who sacrificed so much for voting rights for all 
Americans.
  So I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill to designate the trail 
and help preserve the important sites along the trail for future 
generations.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I hope the body realizes the gentleman from 
Georgia was actually there and part of it, so it is a very historic 
time for the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Alabama [Mr. Hilliard], in whose district we are celebrating today.
  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, of course we realize that this fantastic 
event took place about 50 years ago. This is a bill that would help 
memorialize this event and give it some national historical impact so 
that everyone will be able to realize that it is a part of history. I 
wish to thank the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] for his 
forethought and his tenacity in continuing this effort to make this 
bill one that will pay recognition to all of those who marched with him 
from Selma to Montgomery.
  The communities of Selma and Montgomery began this project years ago 
in recognition of the importance of this 50-mile stretch from the steps 
of Brown Chapel in Selma to the Alabama State Capitol Building. The 
struggle of those brave men and women, numbering almost 25,000 near the 
end, inspired this Nation and in fact inspired this Congress to start 
righting the wrongs of the past. That journey has already begun and 
significant progress has been made. Today we hope to reaffirm that 
progress by remembering the beginning.
  Mr. Speaker, it is important that we show all Americans, as well as 
visitors to our great Nation, our belief in those who came before us 
and for what they did. This trail will cement a place in history for 
the leaders of our movement. Selma and Montgomery will become 
historical designations, along with Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and even 
Washington, DC, to be surveyed by historians in the future. They will 
come and study. Hopefully they will learn about our mistakes so that 
those mistakes will never be repeated again, so that the future will be 
able to be from those mistakes what it ought to be and what we hope it 
to be.
  Mr. Speaker, by allowing this vote, we have demonstrated an awareness 
and appreciation for this cause. In passing this bill, we grant these 
communities the means by which to carry out their mission of 
commemorating the past and honoring the men and women who brought us a 
better future.
  I am very happy to serve in Congress not only with John Lewis, who 
marched behind Dr. King and who became a part of history and who made 
this country what it is today. Hopefully with this bill we will be able 
to commemorate an event that has a significant place in our national 
history.

[[Page H4915]]



                              {time}  1445

  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Filner].
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding this time 
to me, and I rise in strong support of designating the road from Selma 
to Montgomery as a national historic trail. I thank the gentleman for 
allowing the bill to come to a vote, the bill sponsored by the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] and the gentleman from Alabama [Mr. 
Hilliard].
  We have a lot to thank people from 30 years ago. I was working in 
Washington at that time right across the street at the Library of 
Congress. I could not believe what I saw on television, saw the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] and others beaten badly, saw the 
sacrifices that were made, and turned to my colleagues and said what is 
going on there? All people are asking for are equal rights, the right 
to vote, the most precious vote, the most precious freedom that we 
have.
  So several of us said that sacrifices that those people were making 
in Alabama deserve support from people all around the Nation. Thousands 
of people joined them. I joined the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] 
a few miles outside of Montgomery. Thousands of people marched into 
Montgomery. It was an incredible testimony to people who saw that 
democracy could be made better in this Nation, that the right to vote 
was something literally that one struggled to die for.
  That march, as we know, bore great fruit; the Voting Rights Act was 
passed a few months later, resulting in the largest increase in 
democratic rights in this country in about 50 years.
  We have, as I said, Mr. Speaker, a lot to thank for the sacrifices 
that those at the Edmond Pettus Bridge, as the gentleman from Georgia 
[Mr. Lewis] was at, for sparking all of us into a consciousness and a 
realization of what was going on. That march, I think, inspired 
democracy all over this Nation because it showed that people taking 
direct action could, in fact, move Congress, and in different 
Congresses, to taking the right and moral actions.
  So, we designate this trail from Selma to Montgomery as a national 
monument, we dedicate that trail to the lives of people who were 
sacrificed, we dedicate ourselves and recommit ourselves to the 
democracy to which they took action, and we will remember that terrible 
price that people had to pay for all of us to have democracy in this 
Nation, for all of us to have the right to vote, and we have to remind 
all of us every time.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for allowing us to rededicate 
ourselves to increasing democracy in America for all our citizens.
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maryland [Mr. Cummings].
  (Mr. CUMMINGS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Mexico for 
yielding this time to me, and I commend his work and leadership on this 
piece of legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, the trail that Dr. Martin Luther King walked when he led 
a march for black voting rights in 1965 is as meaningful as the route 
Paul Revere took when he rode through Boston, it is as historic and 
symbolic as the expedition led by Lewis and Clark. I am pleased that 
the Selma to Montgomery path has been recognized as a national historic 
trail. This trail is a testament to the courage that Dr. King and the 
civil rights marchers exemplified. It will stand as a monument to their 
tireless efforts to provide and extend fundamental civil rights to all 
Americans regardless of their gender, race or creed.
  The young people in my district of Baltimore and across this great 
country will walk the steps of these civil rights marchers. They will 
cross the Edmond Pettus Bridge, and they will remember the blood, sweat 
and tears and determination that the marchers embodied so that all 
generations will enjoy freedoms and rights that the Founders of this 
great Nation envisioned.
  The route from Selma to Montgomery, Mr. Speaker, is 54 miles long. 
Each step that Dr. King and the marchers took brought freedom closer. 
In 1965 freedom was 54 miles away. Today the distance is shorter, but 
there are still civil rights injustices to overcome. It is my sincere 
hope that one day there will be no distance between the citizens of 
this great country, that all will be afforded basic enumerated freedoms 
without prejudice.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the swift passage of this bill and am hopeful 
that we in the Congress of the United States of America will recognize 
the need to provide full funding for this historic and important 
landmark.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Studds].
  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time. I had not intended to speak; I am not one to speak very often on 
the floor, but when I heard the words of our colleague from Georgia, I 
simply had to rise to pay tribute to him as a leader in that march and 
in that movement and to pay tribute to the gentleman from Utah who 
pointed out the historical significance of what the gentleman from 
Georgia and what his colleagues did at that time.
  I was a young person also, like my colleague from California, working 
in Washington at the time. I was among many hundreds from Washington 
who chartered a train to go from Union Station to Montgomery. Some of 
my colleagues may remember that train was stopped in Atlanta, and the 
crew walked off when they discovered why it was we were headed to 
Alabama, and they were promptly ordered back on by the Attorney General 
of the United States, Robert Kennedy, and for a young white man who had 
grown up in an overwhelmingly, almost totally, white environment in New 
England, it was, to put it mildly, an eye opener. For the first time in 
my life to feel safe only in the company of black people and to have 
spent two nights in a black church in the outskirts of Montgomery and 
to make the final 2 days of that walk into the city led by men such as 
Martin Luther King and our colleague from Georgia was an extraordinary 
experience.
  I hope Members understand that in this Hall, where language is so 
often cheapened and demeaned and overused and where there is a shortage 
of masters of the spoken word, that we are in the presence of one 
gentleman from Georgia, that these words are real, and they are 
historic.
  I would also finally close by citing the gentleman from Maryland, our 
newest Member here, who pointed out that the chapters of civil rights, 
there are some that still remain to be written, and I want to pay a 
particular tribute again to the gentleman from Georgia, who has focused 
not only on the struggle over the centuries of his own race and people 
of color, it was 102 years after President Lincoln signed the 
Emancipation Proclamation that that bridge was crossed, literally and 
figuratively, and that march was made and that bill was signed.
  Fourteen years after that, I would just say to my colleagues, the 
first march on Washington for lesbian and gay rights occurred, and I 
was a Member of Congress, and I was too frightened to even go near it. 
A lot has changed; there is still a chapter to be written.
  I would like to pay special tribute to the gentleman from Georgia 
[Mr. Lewis] for being a champion and leader in that fight as well. All 
of these fights belong to all of us, and I hail the gentleman from 
Georgia and those who have been with him.
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
American Samoa [Mr. Faleomavaega].
  (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I first would like certainly to 
commend the gentleman from Utah, the chairman of the Subcommittee on 
National Parks and Public Lands, for his leadership and working 
cooperatively with the Members of this side of the aisle, for bringing 
this very important piece of legislation for the Members to consider 
and approve. I also offer my commendation to the gentleman from New 
Mexico, who is our ranking member of the subcommittee, but certainly 
the author of the legislation now before us, the gentleman from 
Georgia.
  I want to say to my colleagues that 6 years ago I was, along with 
other Members of the Congress, going to Selma, AL, to commemorate the 
25th anniversary of that historic march that took

[[Page H4916]]

place in 1965. Mr. Speaker, I realize that coming from the other part 
of the world, I guess those islands out there in the Pacific are 
somewhat isolated at times, where we out in the Pacific do not seem to 
know what is going on in the continental United States. But seeing the 
extent of what had happened in watching this on television and seeing 
that one of our Members here, as the author of this very important 
legislation who participated in this important march knows, I want to 
share with my colleagues that one of the most spiritual experiences I 
have had was going down there to Selma, AL, and participating in a 
church service of that little chapel where it all started. All I was 
thinking of was the great and the late Martin Luther King, Jr., the 
advocate and certainly the leader of that momentous occasion and where 
our own Member, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] was part of that 
great march, and I hope that every Member of this Chamber will have an 
opportunity to go to Selma, AL, and see what it was like and to feel 
the problems and inequities that existed in the civil rights, not only 
of our black brothers and sisters, but certainly for all Americans. I 
think this is what this legislation is all about, to serve as a 
reminder that there are inequities despite what it says in the 
Constitution. We still have problems that are human, and as I certainly 
endorse the comments made by the gentleman from Massachusetts, we need 
to look a little deeper in terms of the problems that we still face in 
this Nation.
  Again I commend the gentlemen from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] for sponsoring 
this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers on this side. I 
commend the gentlemen from Georgia and New Mexico, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
  (Mr. RICHARDSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, we have heard orally the courage of men 
like the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] today, but graphically, 
too. I would like to commend to my colleagues the National Trail Study 
that was done by the Park Service, Selma to Montgomery, and there are 
captions in this book that capture what we are doing here today. There 
is a photograph, 1965, Selma, highway patrolmen attack John Lewis, and 
other peaceful marchers, with clubs and tear gas on Bloody Sunday, 
March 7, 1965, UPI photo.
  Mr. Speaker, what we are doing here is marking an important 
historical event for this country, a significant milestone in the civil 
rights movement. This was the impetus for the Voting Rights Act; again 
the hero of the Voting Rights Act, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. 
Lewis], and it is only fitting that we commemorate this event with this 
trail study, and I want to commend the gentleman from Utah [Mr. Hansen] 
for the speed with which he undertook this legislation.
  It is also fitting that the sponsor of this important legislation is 
the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis], probably an authentic hero here 
in the U.S. Congress before he came to Congress and now also as a 
Member of this body.
  When the civil rights marchers were attacked on the Edmond Pettus 
Bridge on March 7, 1965, John was there suffering serious injury at the 
hands of law enforcement officials, and what the Nation saw that day, a 
day that has been known as Bloody Sunday, had a profound effect on 
American society. The gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] and the many 
other marchers, men and women like the gentleman from California [Mr. 
Filner] and others, the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Studds], 
remembering the impact that this day had on him, has been an 
inspiration to us all.
  Mr. Speaker, although 31 years have passed since the march, time has 
not diminished the importance of this event. Rather its importance 
continues to grow. The National Historical Trail designation contained 
in this bill will provide an ongoing tribute to the struggle for voting 
rights in this country. It will also help serve to educate new 
generations to the work of men like the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. 
Lewis] and others in standing up for our most basis freedoms.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the unanimous support of this House for this 
historic bill.
  Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support 
for H.R. 1129, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the 
route from Selma to Montgomery, AL, as a national historic trail.
  For the moment let us forget the fact that this bill meets all the 
criteria for historic trail designation under the National Trails 
System Act of 1968, and instead, let me focus on the extraordinary 
significance of that historic march led by one of the world's greatest 
advocates for human and civil rights, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr.
  On March 7, 1965, as Dr. King attempted to lead a voting rights march 
from Selma to Montgomery, AL, he was confronted by a sheriff's posse 
and State troopers on the Edmond Pettus Bridge. After first blocking 
the path of the marchers, law enforcement officials drove the marchers 
from the bridge in an attack which we now know as Bloody Sunday.
  A later march was scheduled to afford Dr. King and others with 
Federal protection by an order of President Lyndon B. Johnson. On 
August 6, 1965, less than 5 months after the Selma to Montgomery march, 
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law.
  While this 54-mile route remains essentially unchanged from its 
appearance in 1965, its impact has dramatically altered the American 
political landscape. This march illustrated to Congress and to all 
America that after almost a century blacks were still being denied the 
right to vote in most southern States or parts of these States.
  When this 1965 law was enacted, the States of Alabama, Georgia, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, 
were still using the literacy test as a mean-spirited device to 
restrict black voting. Since their emancipation from slavery, blacks 
have encountered both public and private resistance to their efforts to 
exercise their rights as citizens and members of the American 
community. The right to vote has always ranked high on the list of 
disenfranchised Americans, even though throughout the years, to 
exercise this right, for blacks, was often met with violence.
  Mr. Speaker, had Dr. King and many others not made that historic and 
dangerous walk from Selma to Montgomery, perhaps I would not be 
standing before this body today. And, perhaps, neither would any of my 
distinguished African-American colleagues, women, and other minorities 
be here either.
  Historic trail designation has more typically been associated with 
westward expansion and exploration. We have blazed this trail of human 
rights. Existing criteria require that in order to determine that an 
event or building is historically significant, it be at least 50 years 
old or of extraordinary significance. How much more extraordinary can 
this event be perceived before it is given its due? The National Park 
Service recommends the trail be designated by Congress. Therefore, 
given this recommendation, given the blood that was shed for American 
civil rights, Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle to vote in favor of H.R. 1129, designating the route from 
Selma to Montgomery, AL, to be a national historic trail.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend and 
support the commemoration of this Nation's civil rights movement 
through the designation of a national historic trail.
  This legislation will recognize a turning point in the history of 
this country's struggle for civil rights. The well-documented story of 
how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began a peaceful and historic march 
for black voting rights from Selma, AL, on March 7, 1965, can be 
appreciated by each of us. We know that when the marchers attempted to 
leave Selma they were beaten by law enforcement officers as they 
crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
  Two weeks later, under the protection of the Alabama National Guard, 
Dr. King was able to lead the march successfully, and in August of that 
same year President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 
1965.
  This legislation will make a 54-mile route, beginning at the Brown 
Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma and ending at the State Capitol Building 
in Montgomery, a part of the National Historic Trail Registry.
  With the support of this body, generations to come can know and 
appreciate those early steps in the civil rights movement that began 
the road to making the Constitution of this country extend its rights 
and protections to all of its citizens. For some this will be freedom 
at last. Freedom from that bloody day to the recognition of today.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Combest). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Utah [Mr. Hansen] that the House suspend 
the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1129, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof)

[[Page H4917]]

the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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