Old Battles Are New Again: Revisiting the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail

Abstract

The author revists Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, created by Congress to commemorate the historic march of 1965. The only African American site in the entire National Trail System, Selma to Montgomery represents the historical tension between the ideals of American democracy, where all citizens have equal protection and equal rights by law, and the reality of the fight waged by Black voters against discrimination in America. Further, the trail represents the struggle to preserve the history and memory of civil rights sites of conflict as a part of the nation’s historical landscape. Finally, the trail represents the symbolic battle, in real time, of the voting rights movement (which some characterize as “a relic of the past”) in the face of ongoing tangible assaults on voting rights in the 21st century.