Atlanta Daily World

Isakson and Lewis Lead Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Alabama

US Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) announced recently that he will serve as a Senate co-leader of the annual Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to historic sites of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama from March 1 through March 3.

The three-day event, which is led annually by Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, will culminate with a commemorative march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., where Lewis was beaten unconscious in 1965 as he tried to lead several hundred protestors across the bridge to demonstrate the need for voting rights.

The pilgrimage, which is organized by the Faith & Politics Institute, will travel to Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, commemorating the 50th anniversaries of pivotal civil rights events such as the desegregation of the University of Alabama, the Birmingham children's crusade, the bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and the Martin Luther King Jr. letters from the Birmingham jail.

The pilgrimage will culminate as it always has with Congressman Lewis leading a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. Congressman Lewis has returned to Selma nearly every year since his beating during the 1965 march he led there.

"I am extremely honored to be a Senate co-leader of this year's Civil Rights pilgrimage to Alabama with my friend John Lewis. John is a hero for his bravery during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, and his efforts continue to pave the way for equality, liberty and freedom for all," Isakson said. "This is the 50th anniversary of so many pivotal civil rights events, and I am humbled to make this pilgrimage to Alabama alongside John Lewis."

Isakson will serve as a Senate co-leader of the pilgrimage along with Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are the House co-leaders of the pilgrimage. Three members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama also will serve as honorary co-hosts of the event.