Black Church Leaders March in Selma to Protest Erosion of Voting Rights
Black church leaders marched in Selma, Alabama, in May 2026 to protest the Supreme Court's April ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act. Organizers said the march was meant to draw a direct line between the 1965 Bloody Sunday march and the current fight for ballot access.
Black church leaders gathered in Selma, Alabama, in May 2026 to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of the 1965 Bloody Sunday attack on civil rights marchers, in protest of the Supreme Court's April 29 ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act.
Organizers said the march was intended to draw a direct connection between the original struggle for voting rights and the current legal setbacks. Participants included pastors, bishops, and lay leaders from Baptist, Methodist, and Pentecostal denominations across the South.
The Supreme Court's ruling made it significantly harder to challenge voting maps drawn along racial lines without proving that lawmakers acted with intentional discrimination. Legal experts said the decision effectively removed one of the last major tools available to challenge racially gerrymandered districts.
March organizers called on Congress to pass new federal voting rights legislation to replace the protections the court removed. Several speakers at the event referenced the late Rep. John Lewis, who was beaten on the bridge in 1965 and spent decades in Congress fighting to protect the Voting Rights Act.
Faith leaders said the church has a responsibility to respond when democratic participation is threatened. "Every generation faces moments that test the meaning of citizenship," said one organizer. "For Black Americans, those moments have often centered on the ballot."
The march drew participants from more than a dozen states and was covered by national media outlets.
