Selma: Bloody Sunday and the Vote
Welcome to Selma. In the winter and spring of 1965, the streets you are about to walk became the front line of the struggle for the right to vote. This tour follows the route of March 7, 1965, the day that became known as Bloody Sunday, from Brown Chapel AME Church through downtown to the Edmund Pettus Bridge and across the Alabama River.
Along the way you will meet the local people who began the fight years earlier, among them Amelia Boynton and the Dallas County Voters League, the young organizers of SNCC, and the national leaders who joined them. You will also follow what came after: Turnaround Tuesday, the march to Montgomery and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The walk covers about 1.3 miles and takes around 90 minutes with time at each stop. It ends at the National Voting Rights Museum on the far side of the bridge. Sidewalks can be uneven and summers are hot, so bring water. Begin in front of Brown Chapel AME Church at 410 Martin Luther King Jr. Street.
8 stops on this tour:
Brown Chapel AME Church - Where the Marches Began
First Baptist Church - The Movement's Open Door
Carver Homes - Where the Marchers Gathered
Martin Luther King Jr. Street - A Street of Memory
Dallas County Courthouse - The Long Lines to Vote
Selma Interpretive Center - At the Foot of the Bridge
Edmund Pettus Bridge - Bloody Sunday
National Voting Rights Museum - The Road to the Vote
Plan your visit
- Route: 8 stops · about 1.7 miles · walking, one way
- Time: about 1.5 hours at an easy pace, with stops
- Start: Brown Chapel AME Church (directions)
- Cost: free tour
- Audio: narrated - tap ▶ Listen at the top of any stop
Stops on this tour
- Brown Chapel AME Church - Where the Marches Began
- First Baptist Church - The Movement's Open Door
- Carver Homes - Where the Marchers Gathered
- Martin Luther King Jr. Street - A Street of Memory
- Dallas County Courthouse - The Long Lines to Vote
- Selma Interpretive Center - At the Foot of the Bridge
- Edmund Pettus Bridge - Bloody Sunday
- National Voting Rights Museum - The Road to the Vote
More tours nearby
- Montgomery: Legacy and Civil Rights Road (41 mi) - From the river landing and slave market to the Capitol steps: Montgomery's hard history, told through EJI's Legacy Sites and civil rights landmarks.
- New Orleans French Quarter Walk (247 mi) - A two-hour loop through the old city, where French, Spanish, African and Caribbean roots shaped the buildings, the music and the food.