A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Protesters from the original Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama, say there is still work to be done. Thousands gathered in Selma over the weekend to mark 60 years since the historic civil rights march, where the images of police attacking peaceful demonstrators helped rally support for the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. Here's NPR's Debbie Elliott.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Sunday's march was led by the foot soldiers who survived the violence on Edmund Pettus Bridge 60 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Everybody, just the wheelchair. Nobody moves. Hold your position.
ELLIOTT: From the front row, foot soldier Eugene Daniels recalls being beat as he and others tried to march from Selma to Montgomery. He was a 17-year-old high school student at the time.
EUGENE DANIELS: It didn't matter what age, you know, you were, you know? - old, young, everybody. It was - when they call it Bloody Sunday, you can put an emphasis on that when they say Bloody Sunday, yeah?
ELLIOTT: Daniels lives in Ohio now. He says he wanted to come back to Selma to protest what he sees as a rollback of the progress he fought for in 1965.
DANIELS: Let's regroup and restart again. The fight is not over.
ELLIOTT: It was a sentiment echoed by those who joined him for this bridge crossing. Dyamone White, who's 32, is from Edwards, Mississippi. She says she feels a sense of urgency watching the dismantling of federal diversity efforts.
DYAMONE WHITE: I feel like the time is - we're back 60 years ago where we at now in America. And so coming out here, I felt like it was important. A lot of people felt like it was important. You can see the crowd. But it's just like, we have to think about history. History can predict our future.
ELLIOTT: History students from John Brown University in Arkansas came to cross the bridge they've been studying about. Twenty-year-old Ashley Phelan finds inspiration here.
ASHLEY PHELAN: I think we need unity right now. And no matter what happens politically, we need to remember we're all on this earth together - that we're all God's children.
ELLIOTT: Some locked arms. Others sang freedom songs as they made it to the other side of the bridge, where marchers were brutally turned back 60 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Singing) I woke up this morning with my mind set on freedom.
ELLIOTT: Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Selma.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE")
SAM COOKE: (Singing) I want to tell you that everywhere I go, I'm going to let it shine. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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