UK Community Invited to Participate in Commemoration of 1965 Selma to Montgomery March
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 25, 2020) — This Sunday, March 1, the University of Kentucky community will have an opportunity to participate in a commemoration of one of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement's most historic events — the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama.
Hosted by the City of Frankfort, the event will feature political leaders, universities, civil rights organizations, churches and community members. At 2 p.m., the participants will come together to march and cross a bridge near the capitol building in Frankfort, commemorating the famous crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The event honors the 55th anniversary of the marches, which helped pass 1965's landmark Voting Rights Act.
As part of UK's commemoration of 70 years of integration, the Office for Institutional Diversity will offer UK students, faculty and staff a free charter bus to ride to Frankfort for the events. The bus will arrive at noon in front of UK's Main Building, and depart at 1 p.m. The bus will return to UK no later than 6:30 p.m. that evening.
Persons interested in participating can register at www.uky.edu/mlkc/selma-crossing.
This event is designed to reflect on the history while also promoting and encouraging voter registration and voting in the upcoming primary elections.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.