Boston, October 30: March for Voting Rights

Thanks to my friend Jill for clueing me in on the upcoming commemorative event re-enacting the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march led by Dr. Martin Luther King to protest voting restrictions on African Americans.

On October 30 at 1:00, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia will lead a commemorative march from the First Church in Roxbury to Boston Common, where more than 5,000 people are expected to participate in an effort to better understand the struggle for civil rights. The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and a consortium of civil rights and race relations organizations are organizing this important commemoration with support from Boston-area foundations and businesses.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act, passed just a few months after the original march, isn't up for renewal until 2007, but it's never too early to make your opinion known. Congressman Lewis is one of my personal heroes--I can only imagine it would be a thrill to walk the walk with this man.

For a more in-depth look at the Civil Rights era, there will also be a symposium on October 29 featuring speakers such as Lewis and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch.