“All Roads Lead to the South” March Crosses Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma,Alabama

By Jose Mejia

Selma Alabama May 16 2026

I got to Selma around 11 a.m. and started walking up the Edmund Pettus Bridge. One of the very first people I saw was Annie Pearl Avery. She was in a wheelchair, coming down the incline of the bridge. She was arrested right there in 1965 during the civil rights movement.

At the top of the bridge, Black Voters Matter members were holding a massive banner. There was no chanting or shouting. People just walked slowly, completely focused. The march was part of the “All Roads Lead to the South” campaign, a response to the recent Louisiana v. Callais Supreme Court ruling and redrawn voting maps in Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

Seeing the bridge used this way showed how little has changed; the fight for the Voting Rights Act is now being carried by a new generation. After the march, everyone gathered at the base of the bridge to listen to speakers. Hearing Annie Pearl Avery speak about her 1965 arrest on that exact ground really tied the whole day together. Organizers said this was just the beginning of a larger summer push for voter education and organizing across the South.