Auburn professors’ project set to grow historic tourism in Selma

Selma’s history is a major tourist attraction and research being conducted by professors at Auburn University could make land south of the Edmund Pettus Bridge more of a destination than ever before.

Professors Richard Burt and Keith Herbert have for years studied the “conflict site” where protestors were beaten and tear gassed by law enforcement while marching for voting rights in March 1965, which is now called Bloody Sunday. And they told the Selma Rotary Club on Monday that the property at the foot of the bridge where the conflict took place should be formerly identified as a historic site.

Their research has attracted federal funding that led to the formation of a teacher workshop that will bring high school teachers from across the country to Selma and Montgomery for seminars and on-the-ground lessons they can take back to their students starting in summer 2023. The workshops were set to begin in summer 2022 but has been moved to summer 2023 due to COVID.

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