This Sunday, Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell is hosting and participating in the 14^th Annual Faith and Politics Institute’s Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Alabama. Many Members of Congress will be in attendance, including Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Congressmen Spencer Bachus, Gregg Harper, and Bennie Thompson are serving as pilgrimage co-hosts with Congresswoman Sewell while Congressman John Lewis is the Pilgrimage Chairman.  U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx will serve as the keynote speaker for the annual commemoration service at the Brown Chapel A.M.E Church and will join for the Bridge Crossing reenactment Sunday afternoon.

“Each year, I am pleased to welcome my colleagues and friends to the 7^th Congressional District to retrace the steps of those who marched unarmed, unafraid across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965. I am also looking forward to hosting U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx,” said Rep. Sewell. “The annual pilgrimage is significant for our nation’s leaders because it reminds us of the importance of never forgetting the sacrifices that were made for America to live up to its ideals of equality and justice for all.  I appreciate the Faith and Politics Institute for organizing the pilgrimage for the past 14 years and for their steadfast commitment to familiarizing Members of Congress with the history of the Civil Rights Movement.”

This year’s pilgrimage will begin with visits to historic Civil Rights sites in Mississippi and will conclude with the reenactment of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on Sunday, March 8, 2014. Participants include Members of Congress, Civil Rights icons, and many community and civic leaders. 

“It is important that we acknowledge that our successes have only been made possible because of the courage of those who marched, prayed and sacrificed in Selma forty-nine years ago. As we commemorate the 49^th Anniversary of this historic event, I hope that all those in attendance will leave with a renewed understanding of the significance of our painful past and our role in confronting injustices today,” said Rep. Sewell. 

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Details of Congressional Trip:

The 2014 Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Mississippi and Alabama is hosted by the Faith and Politics Institute. The Bi-Partisan Congressional Delegation will visit historic landmarks that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement. The delegation will arrive in Selma, Alabama on Sunday following two days in the Mississippi cities of Money, Ruleville and Jackson. While in Mississippi, the delegation will learn about Mississippi’s role in the civil rights movement, including events from the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 through Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964. The Pilgrimage will culminate on Sunday with a reenactment of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge led by Congressman John Lewis. The delegation will be joined in Selma by Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, and other Civil Rights luminaries and national leaders.

Anthony Foxx Background:

Anthony Foxx became the 17^th U.S. Secretary of Transportation on July 2, 2013. As U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Foxx leads an agency with more than 55,000 employees and a $70 billion budget that oversees air, maritime, and surface transportation.  Foxx joined the U.S. Department of Transportation after serving as the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2009 to 2013.  Prior to being elected mayor, Foxx served two terms on the Charlotte City Council.Foxx is an attorney and has spent much of his career in private practice.  He also worked as a law clerk for the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, a trial attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and staff counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. Foxx received a law degree from New York University’s School of Law as a Root-Tilden Scholar, the University’s prestigious public service scholarship.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in History from Davidson College. Foxx and his wife, Samara, have two children.