GEORGETOWN, Texas — When a crowd marches from Georgetown, Texas to the state capital on Wednesday, organizers said they’re drawing inspiration from Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 march for voting rights.
Hundreds, maybe even thousands, are expected to descend on the state Capitol after a three-day march to Austin from Georgetown.
It’s called the Moral March for Democracy.
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke is teaming up with civil rights leaders to lead the Selma-style march.
Here's a quick look back at this part of history, which begins on March 7, 1965.
Marchers campaigning for voter rights attempted to make a 54-mile trek across Alabama from Selma to Montgomery. They made it halfway across the Edmund Pettus Bridge before state troopers moved in with batons and tear gas. Images from what became known as “Bloody Sunday” sparked outrage all over the country.
Two days later, protesters gave the march another try. Again, state troopers turned them around on the bridge, but without the violence witnessed on “Bloody Sunday.”
"I think mainly because of the power of numbers, the pressure on the federal government, and pressure of the local state government," MLK Jr. said.
Then, on March 21, 1965, a group of more than 3,000, led by MLK Jr., started their march out of Selma -- this time with a court order and federal troops protecting them.
"Today, we can march by this very same spot without being stopped and without being harassed up to this point represents a level of progress that is very significant," said MLK Jr.
The crowd walked more than 10 miles a day along what is now known as the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail to make it to Alabama’s capital on March 25, 1965.
There, John Lewis delivered this message: "When any system denies the people the right to vote, it is not asking just for a battle, it is demanding a war. We are involved in a non-violent war, we are involved in a non-violent revolution."
Later that summer, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. Then-President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law on Aug. 6, 1965.