[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 35 (Monday, March 5, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E308-E309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 DIRECTING OFFICE OF HISTORIAN TO COMPILE ORAL HISTORIES FROM MEMBERS 
                INVOLVED IN ALABAMA CIVIL RIGHTS MARCHES

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. MARCIA L. FUDGE

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 1, 2012

  Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, forty-seven years ago, 600 civil rights 
protesters en route from Selma to Montgomery were stopped at the Edmund 
Pettus Bridge where state and local policemen attacked them with billy 
clubs and tear gas, driving them back to Selma. I was honored to vote 
for a resolution on March 1, 2012, calling on Congress to collect oral 
histories from current and former members of the House who lived 
through that chilling day

[[Page E309]]

known as Bloody Sunday. We must not forget the courage of my esteemed 
colleague, Congressman John Lewis, and others during the march from 
Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in March 1965. Non-violent marchers led by 
Lewis and Hosea Williams were brutally beaten, opening the eyes of the 
Nation to the struggle of African Americans to win the right to vote. 
Let us resolve to protect the voting rights for which participants of 
that march suffered such brutality, and honor them for their commitment 
to non-violence. They are an inspiration for all Americans.

                          ____________________