Black Faith Leaders March in Selma to Defend Voting Rights After Supreme Court Ruling

Nearly 100 faith and voting rights leaders gathered in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, on May 16, 2026, to protest a Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act.

The rally, called "All Roads Lead to the South," was organized by Black Voters Matter, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund. Organizers expected around 5,000 attendees.

The Rev. Bernice A. King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., attended the event and called the ruling "a shameless assault on Black political power." Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey also addressed the crowd.

The event began with a prayer service at Selma's Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, which hosted the first massive voting rights meeting in 1963. Participants then marched silently across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of the "Bloody Sunday" violence in 1965, before heading to the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery.

The rally targeted an April 29 court ruling that declared Louisiana's attempt to add a second Black-majority district unconstitutional. Many faith leaders said the decision effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act's protections against racial discrimination in elections.

Satellite events were held in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and other cities. Organizers said the rally was the start of a national movement to counter the ruling's impact on Black political representation in the South.

The event had a worship-like atmosphere, with gospel songs and chants of "vote, vote, vote" echoing through the crowd.