Jubilee organizers announce Pritzker, Buttigieg as top speakers at Jubilee in March

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are two of the national leaders participating in the upcoming Bridge Crossing Jubilee, organizers announced Friday.

Former Alabama Sen. Hank Sanders said that Pritzker and Buttigieg will speak at the Annual Martin & Coretta King Unity Breakfast and at the Edmund Pettus Bridge before the March on Sunday, March 8.

This year’s Jubilee, marking the 61^st anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery March, will pay special tribute to Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died last week, Jubilee organizer Faya Rose Toure said. She said details will be announced soon.

Rev. Jackson took part in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and he has returned to Selma to commemorate Bloody Sunday since the early 1970s, according to the release. Jackson took part in nearly every Bridge Crossing Jubilee since it was founded in 1993.

“Rev. Jackson was here last year in his wheelchair,” Toure said.

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 Jackson’s youngest son, Rainbow PUSH Coalition Head Yusef Jackson, is expected to attend the event with a delegation of 200 people, but many Jackson family members will be involved with events in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., honoring the civil rights leader, according to Toure.

Other national leaders speaking at this year’s Jubilee include National Newspaper Publishers Association President Dr. Ben Chavis; Indivisible Co-Founders Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg; National Urban League President Marc Morial; Martin Luther King III; Black Voters Matter Co-Founder LaTosha Brown; Former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke; National Farm Workers Association Co-Founder Dolores Huerta.

The Jubilee will begin on Thursday, March 5, and it culminates on Sunday, March 8. The Bridge Crossing Jubilee features dozens of events, almost all of which are free to the public. For more information, go to the official Jubilee website at https://www.selmajubilee.com.

Jubilee leaders last week announced the theme for the 61st commemorative event as “All boots on the bridge” in the recognition of the Selma to Montgomery protest that led to passage of the Voting Rights Act.