Edmund Pettus was an American lawyer, soldier, and legislator. He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, during which he was captured three times. After the war he was a Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan and a U.S. Senator. An enthusiastic champion of the Confederate cause and of slavery.
On March 7, 1965, 525 civil rights marchers on their way to march from Selma to Montgomery attempted to cross the bridge, but were viciously attacked by Alabama state troopers and members of the Ku Klux Klan. This event has since been called Bloody Sunday.
It is an affront to the principals this country holds dear that this bridge still bears this despicable man's name. John Lewis is 10 times the man Edmund Pettus ever was.
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