>> on march 21, 1965, marchers left selma to make the trek to montgomery. when they reached the capital, the marchers had grown to 25,000. up next, we learned about the edmund pettus ridge, -- bridge, the starting point. >> would you name a bridge after james pettus, several things happen.

you stamp a modern marvel with someone who supported white supremacy for decades. anyone who goes over this bridge , a it evokes something. a modern bridge with the name of a kkk leader. then 1939.tion began it was completed in 1940. the bridge that was in place was bridge.unctional wooden they had to crank it up by hand if a ship came through of any height. andas to link montgomery the black belt here in selma. an entry point for people leaving the black belt and going into the capital. to theople would come

capital to secure favor or make a political speech. white planners would come to attempt to restrict black labor. design. their own the bridge was a modern marvel for this part of alabama. structure andn then came this modern steel that evoked midcentury modernism. beamsare a series of supported by a span, but it very dignityed a sense of my modernity.

pettus had been a major part of alabama history. he was from alabama. he was born up in the north. he went to the college of tennessee. he studied law and became a lawyer. when he became a lawyer, he would've been among many men in the 1820's. when he moved to selma, he became a lawyer. work with,ful lawyer defendant, or represented white vastho owned slaves and tracts of land growing cotton. upthe civil war, he joined and rose through the ranks to become of brigadier general.

by the end of the war, he was commanding multiple regiments. he suffered a major injury andrd the end of the war became a hero. he had led men in battle. he comes back and settles in powerful rises as a lawyer. he runs the democratic state convention for many years. anyone who wins to go to washington has to work with him. he served as a senator until his 1907.in he became a spokesperson. like many men of his time in , he was part of the white power plan.

tenure, he famously stripped most blacks and many one whites of the rights during the civil war. it was a powerful vehicle for local politicians to manage black people. the tremendous black-white ratio. blacks outnumbered whites. the state constitution was to strip blacks of any political power, to ensure whites could select the leaders for generations. past his tenure, alabama the constitution which stands as an example of the way southern governments went to great lengths to re-create the old

south during the new south. that manifested and a lack of rights for african americans. and dedicated. from becomingent a place of racial separation to liberation.acial in 1965, this became the setting for one of the most important moments. had decided this was the place he would make a pitch for voting. concretes bridge, one space. one modern marvel. kind ofe a different space when king and his supporters crossed over the bridge to go to montgomery and demand their rights to vote.

like many cities, there was during theviolence civil rights movement. knowing that pettus himself supported white supremacy, this bridge became a literal passageway from segregation to integration. toone hand, you do not want forget. you want to teach that to your children, you wanted to be part of the conversation. you want to say, many years ago this was a place that did not welcome. but there is a need to inject into that a powerful memory, that this is a place of revolution. one of kings greatest moments. this is where 20,000 people, black and white, came to testify to the full american understanding of democracy.

you can cross this bridge and demand your right to vote. how do you balance that? there's no easy solutions. the original name is important to keep because it reminds us of how far we have come. revisionist have a history. the edmund pettus ridge, there is something ironic about the fact it is named after i confided it -- the edmund pettus bridge, there is something about the fact it is named after a confederate. now it is known all around the world as where there was a stand to vote.ight when i think about revitalizing economically the city of selma, thecannot stop the fact

whole world knows the edmund pettus bridge because of what happened. folks who grew up in selma, we know the complicated history. the fact that civil war and civil rights live side-by-side in the history of selma. we have to learn from that history. it is important we embrace the history, even the painful part. from alabama, from selma, if we do not tell the history others might. not get it right. they might not see it through the lens of people who grew up her, who are from here. we cannot change history but we can learn from it.

announcer: our cities tour staff recently traveled to selma, alabama to learn more about its rich history. c-span.org/cities tour. you are watching c-span tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span tv. symposiumssion from a entitled "1968: philly and the world." there was talk about social change and civil rights in philadelphia, germany, and mexico. was cohosted and it is about one hour and 20 minutes. wonderfuls been a