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Final Stop of Voting Rights March Re-enacted in Alabama
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=C2B90C:2AB91D3

Participants in state capital Montgomery call for extension of certain
provisions of 1965 Voting Rights Act About 300 people have
participated in the final stop of the 40th anniversary re-enactment of
the Selma-to-Montgomery, Alabama voting rights march - a key moment in
the U.S. civil rights struggle.

Participants at the commemoration festivities Saturday in the state
capital, Montgomery, called for an extension of certain provisions of
the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which will come up for renewal in 2007.

The landmark legislation barred obstacles such as literacy tests that
were set up by white segregationists to keep blacks from voting.

State troopers and sheriff's deputies used clubs and tear gas to halt
the first Selma-to-Montgomery march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in
Selma on March 7, 1965. A second march two weeks later had the
protection of a federal court order.

The marches and the attack at the bridge inspired passage of the
Voting Rights Act.

Some information provided by AP.


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