Brown Chapel to host events during Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee

Historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma is stepping into the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee this weekend with renewed energy, fresh renovations and a full slate of events honoring the legacy of the 1965 Voting Rights Movement. 

Brown Chapel, headquarters of the Selma voting rights campaign and the gathering place for foot soldiers before each of the three Selma-to-Montgomery marches, has been undergoing major restoration for several years to return the sanctuary to its 1965 condition, the year of Bloody Sunday.

Pastor Leodis Strong tells the Black Belt News Network the work is progressing well enough to welcome the public back inside. “By God’s grace, it’s going extremely well,” he said. “We’re not completely at full restoration, but we want to seize the moment and the momentum of this week.”

That momentum includes a soft reopening and ribbon cutting Friday morning, marking the first time many visitors will see the sanctuary since renovations began.

While much of Jubilee weekend focuses on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Pastor Strong said the movement’s foundation was built inside Brown Chapel. “If the church had not inspired and provided the sanctuary for the foot soldiers, there would be no bridge,” he said. “Brown Chapel was the starting point for all three major marches: Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday and the Selma-to-Montgomery march.”

Strong said this year’s programming is designed to reconnect visitors to that origin story and to highlight the faith-based activism that propelled the movement forward.

A major addition to this year’s observance is the Spirit of the Courageous Eight Community Service Recognition Awards, which will honor the often-overlooked local leaders who kept the movement alive when the NAACP was banned in Alabama.

The awards will be presented posthumously to members of the Courageous Eight, with plaques given to their families. Additional community members who embody their spirit will also be recognized. The event is co-sponsored by the Selma-Dallas County NAACP and the Black Belt Community Foundation.

Strong said the Courageous Eight “risked everything – jobs, lives, personal safety, financial stability. They laid it all on the line.” He hopes the awards will help restore their place in the public memory of the movement.

Brown Chapel will host a series of programs that blend history, worship and forward-looking conversations about justice, voting rights and civic responsibility. Strong said the goal is to “connect the dots from the church house to the courthouse to the schoolhouse to the statehouse to the White House to your house.”

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Pastor Strong said he hopes the weekend will inspire visitors to “stand on the right side of history in real time,” just as the foot soldiers and Courageous Eight did more than half a century ago.

Schedule of Events at Brown Chapel AME Church

Friday, March 6

• 10:00 a.m. – Soft Reopening & Ribbon Cutting
  Public unveiling of the restored sanctuary, the historic headquarters of the 1965 movement.
• 12:00 p.m. – Spirit of the Courageous Eight Community Service Recognition Awards
  Held at the Edmund I. Bullock Community Center across from Tabernacle Baptist Church.
  Includes award presentations and a town hall style session on “Salvation to Social Justice.”
• 7:00 p.m. – Worship Service at Brown Chapel
  Featuring Rev. Dr. Charles Boyer of Trenton, New Jersey, known nationally for his work linking faith and social justice.

Saturday, March 7

• 9:00 a.m. – AME Church Founders Day Program
  Celebrating the AME Church’s roots in Alabama, where Brown Chapel became the state’s first AME congregation in 1868.
• 12:00 p.m. – Social Justice Session
  A continuation of discussions on modern civil rights challenges.
• 2:00–4:00 p.m. – National Black Lawyers Panel
  Featuring Ryan Haygood and including participation from Maryland Governor Wes Moore.
• 4:00 p.m. – Legal Defense Fund Program
  Focused on voting rights, including the ongoing fight to protect majority minority districts and the legacy of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Sunday, March 8

• Bloody Sunday Commemoration
  The annual remembrance of the 1965 attack on peaceful marchers, culminating in the symbolic crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.