. >> 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 tenn

. >> would you name a bridge after james pettus, several things happen.