Bridging Selma
Apr 26, 2015 | Stories
April 24, – Each year in April, a month after celebrating the voting rights victories achieved in Selma, the town hosts the Battle of Selma Re-enactment festivities. Thousands of people come to town to remember the April 1865 Civil War battle in which Selma’s Confederate Troops were defeated by Union troops. For some, the observance of this part of the town’s Confederate past honors the people who fought against the rights of black people, who now make up the majority of the town’s population. Abayomi Goodall, the director at the Slavery & Civil War Museum, leads a protest against the celebration of confederacy during the 150th Battle of Selma Re-enactment at the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Friday, April 24. Photo by Erin Irwin Allen Garner looks on during a demonstration honoring Black soldiers who fought in the Civil War. Photo by Benjamin McKnight III Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders greets Azali Fortier, a young protestor speaking out against the Battle of Selma reenactment on April 24. Photo by Benjamin McKnight III Fayatoure Rose points onlookers and fellow demonstrators in the direction of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Photo by Benjamin McKnight III Doyle MaurerWVU...
Apr 29, 2015 | Stories
As cannon thundered and rifle shot crackled less than 100 yards away, Roy McMillan replaced a fuse in his 12-passenger van so he could distance himself from Union and Confederate forces April 26. He was getting ready for a trip that afternoon to Prattville where he and his Gospel music group, the Angelic Harmonizers were set to perform. “The noise doesn’t bother me but they ought to tell the truth,” the husky baritone said over the distant military commands and musket volleys that rattled his Sunday afternoon. He said he applauds the money that flows into the otherwise moribund economy and is ambivalent about the crowd’s embrace of the Confederate force. But, he said, he is fed up with the South painting itself as valiant underdogs in what he viewed as a battle to end slavery. “Instead of telling the truth, they still telling a bunch of lies,” he said of how the re-enactors stage the battle as a noble sacrifice by beloved Rebel commander Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men. McMillan is also more than a little annoyed by the behavior of the offspring of civil rights demonstrators who faced beatings and death to win voting rights. “There are so many 18-year-old black kids around here who can play video games with their thumbs but aren’t registered to vote,” he said. “Those same kids’ mommas got hit upside the head at the Edmund Pettus Bridge and got locked up protesting for the right to vote.” The national focus on the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and the 50th anniversary of Selma’s role as a...
Apr 27, 2015 | Stories
Reenactors march to the battlefield at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore Reenactors pose as settlers during the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on April 25, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore Reenactors line up on their horses right before combat begins at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on Saturday, April 24, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore Fake remains are loaded into a bloody trunk at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore A Reenactor walks away from the women’s tea at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore As reenactors enter the fairgrounds for the 150th celebration of the Battle of Selma, they are welcomed by a giant booth filled with collectables, books, brochures, and other readings. At first glance, it looks like the registration table—but it’s not. As visitors study the booth’s tables they will notice book titles including “The White Identity, the Social Conscious in the 21st Century,” and “The Authentic History of the Ku Klux Klan.” The literature on the table sets the tone for the organization. The Friends of Forrest, an organization that celebrates a notorious Civil War general, is trying to raise $54,000 for a replacement bust of General Nathan Bedford Forrest that will be placed in Selma’s Live Oak Cemetery. Forrest was a Lieutenant general in the Confederate Calvary and his military career was focused in the mid-South where he led the Confederate troops in the Battle...
Recent Comments