Alabama - Selma

Selma



I borrowed this sign from the US 80 page (linked at bottom) for some backstory of the history here. I present more backstory there, as well as photos of the historic bridge where the confrontations occurred and the eventually successful march crossed to leave town. Selma was one of the pivotal places in the movement for the police brutality that gained national attention and the persistent response of Martin Luther King, Jr. to continue to lead the march to civil rights.


Coming into Selma on Broad St. past old buildings, including the United Methodist Church. It's the most prominent church but only the second most famous or important.


Along MLK, Jr. Street in eastern Selma, heading north to the most famous church.


This one, the African Methodist Episcopal (a Southern black congregation), is where Martin Luther King, Jr., among other prominent African-American leaders, organized and began the Selma to Montgomery march, and kept it organized when it was beaten back.


Details of the exterior and monuments.


Not much of interest happens on east Water Ave., but the old buildings are worth the trip to ogle. That's not to say these buildings (seen traveling westward) aren't used or useful, but downtown is where the action is.


Downtown sprouts further west along Water Ave. near Broad St. Some of the old balconies are reminiscent of the iconic ones in New Orleans.


One of my only eastward-facing photos - now that I've gotten out of the car - and a tablet commermorating Lafayette's trip to Cahaba. What, never heard of that place? It was the first state capital from 1820 to 1825 (when Lafayette visited), but prone to flooding so the capital quickly moved to Tuscaloosa. Both cities declined when the capital moved, and both eventually recovered. So what happened to Cahaba? Another flood. It occurred right at the end of the Civil War, so the county seat (which replaced the capital) moved from there to Selma, and that was the blow that finally killed the town. Houses were moved away, the town was converted to fields by the freedmen who moved in, and then even the fields disappeared. The remains of Cahaba have been preserved as a ghost town, and if I knew then what I know now, I'd have a page on it.


This behemoth occupies all of the east side of Washington St. closest to the river, making it the first building a traveler would have encountered coming from Montgomery when the original river crossing existed. Since it dates to 1837, it enjoyed over a century of that premier status until the new bridge was constructed to Broad St.


A brief peek west of Broad St., but all the interesting stuff ends pretty quickly. I've read some comments saying "Selma isn't safe! Oh no!" but I would heartily disagree with that assessment. Just be nice to the people you meet, and, well, I visited in daylight.

Old US 80 in Selma and the Edmund Pettus Bridge

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