Oprah Winfrey and other members of the cast and crew of the movie Selma marched through the actual city of Selma, Alabama on Sunday in tribute to Martin Luther King Jr, CBS reports.
Several hundred other citizens joined the cast on their symbolic march from Selma City Hall to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where civil rights protesters were brutally beaten by police officers on March 7, 1965 as they marched for their voting rights.
“Every single person who was on that bridge is a hero,” Winfrey said to the assembled marchers.
Winfrey joined arm-in-arm with Selma star and director David Oyelowo and Ava DuVernay, and led the crowd through the city toward the historic site. Common and John Legend also joined the symbolic march and performed their Oscar-nominated song, “Glory,” at the top of the bridge at sunset.
The film Selma dramatizes the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery led by Dr. King. The powerful historical drama was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and for Best Original Song. Paramount Pictures is offering free screenings of the film to the general public at the Selma Walton Theater in Alabama on Monday, according to the LA Times.
Winfrey said they marched on Sunday to remember “Martin Luther King as an idea, Selma as an idea and what can happen with strategy, with disciple and with love.”
How are you celebrating Martin Luther King Day?