'Bloody Sunday' 60th anniversary marked in Selma with remembrances and concerns about the future

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — Charles Mauldin was near the front of a line of voting rights marchers walking in pairs across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965.

The marchers were protesting white officials’ refusal to allow Black Alabamians to register to vote, as well as the killing days earlier of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a minister and voting rights organizer who was shot by a state trooper in nearby Marion.

At the apex of the span over the Alabama River, they saw what awaited them: a line of state troopers, deputies and men on horseback. They kept going. After they approached, law enforcement gave a two-minute warning to disperse and then unleashed violence.

“Within about a minute or a half, they took their billy clubs, holding it on both ends, began to push us back to back us in, and then they began to beat men, women and children, and tear gas men, women and children, and cattle prod men, women and children viciously,” said Mauldin, who was 17 at the time.

Selma on Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of the clash that became known as Bloody Sunday. The attack shocked the nation and galvanized support for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965. The annual commemoration pays homage to those who fought to secure voting rights for Black Americans and brought calls to recommit to the fight for equality.

For those gathered in Selma, the celebration comes amid concerns about new voting restrictions and the Trump administration’s effort to remake federal agencies they said helped make America a democracy for all

Speaking at the pulpit of the city’s historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said what happened in Selma changed the nation. He said the 60th anniversary comes at a time when there is “trouble all around” and some “want to whitewash our history.” But he said like the marchers of Bloody Sunday, they must keep going.

“At this moment, faced with trouble on every side, we’ve got to press on,” Jeffries said to the crowd that included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, multiple members of Congress and others gathered for the commemoration.

Members of Congress joined with Bloody Sunday marchers to lead a march of several thousand people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They stopped to pray at the site where marchers were beaten in 1965.

“We gather here on the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when our country is in chaos,” said U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama.

Sewell, a Selma native, noted the number of voting restrictions introduced since the U.S. Supreme Court effectively abolished a key part of the Voting Rights Act that required jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to clear new voting laws with the Justice Department. Other speakers noted the Trump administration's push to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and a rollback of equal opportunity executive orders that have been on the books since the 1960s.

In 1965, the Bloody Sunday marchers led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams walked in pairs across the Selma bridge headed toward Montgomery.

“We had steeled our nerves to a point where we were so determined that we were willing to confront. It was past being courageous. We were determined, and we were indignant,” Mauldin recalled.

He said the “country was not a democracy for Black folks” until voting rights. "And we’re still constantly fighting to make that a more concrete reality for ourselves.”

Kirk Carrington was just 13 on Bloody Sunday and was chased through the city by a man on a horse wielding a stick. “When we started marching, we did not know the impact we would have in America," he said.

Dr. Verdell Lett Dawson, who grew up in Selma, remembers a time when she was expected to lower her gaze if she passed a white person on the street to avoid making eye contact.

Dawson and Mauldin said they are concerned about the potential dismantling of the Department of Education and other changes to federal agencies.

Support from the federal government “is how Black Americans have been able to get justice, to get some semblance of equality, because left to states’ rights, it is going to be the white majority that’s going to rule,” Dawson said.

“That that’s a tragedy of 60 years later: what we are looking at now is a return to the 1950s,” Dawson said.

Martin Luther King III marches across the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Annie Pearl Avery, one of the original foot soldiers reacts on crossing the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., speaks at the Tabernacle Baptist Church during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The Rev. Al Sharpton listens to speakers at the Tabernacle Baptist Church during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U.S. Sen Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., left, speaks with the Rev. Al Sharpton at the Tabernacle Baptist Church during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear takes a photo with a marcher during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

People march during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U. S. Rep Terri Sewell, R-Ala., speaks at the Tabernacle Baptist Church during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

From left; U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP President Derick Johnson participate in a church service at the Tabernacle Baptist Church during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

People march to the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Selma Civil Rights foot soldier Charles Mauldin prepares to march during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

People march over the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

People march to the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The foot soldiers are helped across the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and NAACP President Derick Johnson, from left, march across the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

FILE - Annie Pearl Avery, left, poses for a photo with Vice President Kamala Harris before walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge commemorating the 59th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday voting rights march in 1965, Sunday, March 3, 2024, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

FILE - Selma civil rights foot soldier Charles Mauldin introduces President Joe Biden to speak near the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., Sunday, March 5, 2023, during an event to commemorate the 58th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," a landmark event of the civil rights movement. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett, File)

FILE - Amelia Boynton is aided by people after she was injured when state police broke up a demonstration march in Selma, Ala., March 7, 1965. Boynton, wife of a real estate and insurance man, has been a leader in civil rights efforts. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Clouds of tear gas fill the air as state troopers, ordered by Gov. George Wallace, break up a demonstration march in Selma, Ala., March 7, 1965, on what became known as "Bloody Sunday." (AP Photo, File)

FILE - An Alabama state trooper swings a club at John Lewis, right foreground, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Ala., March 7, 1965. (AP Photo, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Wind-driven wildfires that were among South Korea's worst ever were ravaging the country's southern regions, killing 18 people, destroying more than 200 structures and forcing 27,000 people to evacuate, officials said Wednesday.

Officials also said a helicopter crashed during efforts to contain wildfires in the southeastern town of Uiseong, one of the areas hardest-hit by the wildfires. The Korea Forest Service said rescue efforts were underway and it was presumed that the aircraft was operated by one pilot with no crew members.

An ancient Buddhist temple, houses, factories and vehicles were among the structures destroyed in the wildfires that have burned 43,330 acres and injured 19 people, the government’s emergency response center said.

In a televised address, South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo said the wildfires that began last Friday were causing worse damage than many other past wildfires.

“Damages are snowballing,” Han said. “There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to put out the wildfires in the rest of this week.”

Han said crews were struggling to extinguish the wildfires because strong winds swept the areas overnight. Han said about 4,650 firefighters, soldiers and other personnel were working Wednesday to extinguish the wildfires with the help of about 130 helicopters. He said that “a small amount” of 5-10 millimeters of rain was expected Thursday.

Observers say the ongoing wildfires are the third biggest in South Korea in terms of land burned.

Officials in several southeastern cities and towns had ordered residents to evacuate Tuesday as firefighters struggled to contain multiple blazes fueled by dry winds. The largest fires were in Andong, the neighboring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan, according to South Korea's Interior Ministry.

Earlier on Tuesday, officials had said firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in those areas, but wind and dry conditions allowed the blazes to spread again. But efforts to fight the fires were partially suspended overnight as the winds strengthened.

The blaze in Uiseong destroyed nearly half of more than 30 structures at Gounsa, a temple which was said to be originally built in the 7th century. Among the destroyed structures were two state-designated “treasures" — a pavilion-shaped structure built on a stream built in 1668 and a Joseon Dynasty structure built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king.

The temple’s another state-designated “treasure,” a stone Buddha statue reportedly manufactured in the 8th century, was evacuated to a safe place, according to government and Buddhist officials.

The Justice Ministry said it protectively removed 500 inmates from a detention center in Cheongsong, another southern town, but no damages were reported to the facility.

The Korea Forest Service said it had raised its wildfire warning to the highest “serious” level nationwide Tuesday, requiring local governments to assign more workers to emergency response, tighten entry restrictions for forests and parks, and recommend that military units withhold live-fire exercises.

The 18 dead include four firefighters and government workers who were killed in Sancheong on Saturday after being trapped by fast-moving flames driven by strong winds, according to officials.

Government officials suspect human error caused several of the fires, possibly due to the use of fire while clearing overgrown grass in family tombs or sparks from welding work.

Firefighters inspect the wreckage of a crashed firefighting helicopter at a mountain in Uiseong, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)

The wreckage of a crashed firefighting helicopter is seen at a mountain in Uiseong, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)

South Korean acting President Han Duck-soo, center, speaks during a press conference at the Government Complex in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP)

A bell is seen broken at the remains of the bell pavilion at Goun Temple in Uiseong, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Kim Do-hoon/Yonhap via AP)

Burnt-out houses are seen at a damaged village due to wildfires in Yeongyang, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Yun Kwan-shik/Yonhap via AP)

Escaped villagers from wildfires take rest at a shelter in Yeongyang, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Yun Kwan-shik/Yonhap via AP)

A man walks near a burnt-out house in a damaged village in Yeongyang, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Yun Kwan-shik/Yonhap via AP)

Houses burn in a village after being engulfed by a wildfire fueled by strong winds in Uiseong, South Korea, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

A road is closed as a wildfire fueled by strong winds spreads in Uiseong, South Korea, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

A Korea Forest Service helicopter dumps fire retardant on a wildfire in Sancheong, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Kim Dong-min/Yonhap via AP)

A firefighter works to extinguish a fire at a house that has been engulfed in a wildfire in Uiseong, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

Houses burn in a village after being engulfed by a wildfire fueled by strong winds in Uiseong, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

A Korea Forest Service helicopter dumps fire retardant on a wildfire in Uiseong, South Korea, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Yoon Gwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)