Still on the Bridge

What has since become known as "Bloody Sunday" took place on On March 7, 1965. It was part of the Selma to Montgomery freedom march on behalf of passage of the U.S. Civll Rights Act. An estimated 525 to 600 civil rights marchers headed southeast out of Selma towards the Edmund Pettus Bridge led by Rev. Hosea Williams of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The marchers were brutally beaten as they crossed the bridge by Alabama state troopers. The brutality of this event proved a turning point in the national support for Civil Rights legislation.

Schmidt wrote this song in 2015. 

It started out peaceful, just like they planned
600 people walking hand in hand
Two by two they made their way 
Into that bloody fray

D - G D / D - G A / D - G  D  /  GD EmG  A  -

We’re still on the bridge, 50 years gone by
Still on the bridge, looking hate in the eye
We can’t cross the bridge until we turn them / Around

D - G D / D - G A / D - G A / D - - -

Silent marchers, Montgomery bound
The right to vote their common ground
Selma behind, what lay ahead 
Would leave three people dead

Onto the Edmund Pettus Bridge
And the angry blue sea at the bottom of the ridge
Old Edmund was a Klansman and here’s the shame: 
The bridge still bears his name

Selma to Montgomery
Can’t be measured in miles, you see
But in the courage to stand our ground 
And turn this hate around

lyrics & music by Claudia Schmidt. (c) 2015 Pragmavision Publishing. All rights reserved.