Oprah Winfrey, John Legend, Common and other stars from the Selma cast commemorated the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a big way.The star-studded group, which included the film's director Ava DuVernary and star David Oyelowo, joined thousands of people in Selma, Alabama Sunday to march across the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge, which was once the scene for one of the bloodiest incidents during the civil rights movement (that was caught on camera).
At one point in the film, David, who plays Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads thousands, along with Oprah's character (a protestor who was constantly denied her right to vote) in a nonviolent demonstration in March 1965 across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to seek the right for blacks to register to vote.
That demonstration came two weeks after an infamous march known as "Bloody Sunday," in which 600 unarmed, nonviolent marchers attempted to cross the bridge on March 7, 1965 and were attacked with tear gas and beaten by state troopers.The violence that occurred that day prompted a national outcry and a demand for equal federal voting rights that would give African Americans the chance to register and vote without harassment or prejudice. Months after the marches in Selma, the Voting Rights Act passed.
Selma's release in December came at a time of national unrest, with protests occurring across the country after unarmed black men - Mike Brown and Eric Garner- were killed by police."Look at what they were able to do with so little, and look at how we now have so much," Winfrey said, according to NBC News. "If they could do that, imagine what now can be accomplished with the opportunity through social media and connection, the opportunity through understanding that absolutely we are more alike than we are different."
In addition to marching on the bridge, John Legend and Common performed their Oscar-nominated song from the film "Glory" on the bridge, along with the Tuskegee University Gospel Choir.
Today in Selma was so humbling. So grateful to @AVAETC, @common, @oprah and the rest of the @SelmaMovie team for inviting me to join
- John Legend (@johnlegend) January 19, 2015