Ahead of Pilgrimage to Alabama in Honor Of 50th Anniversary of Historic Marches, Brown Leads Banking Committee Passage of Congressional Gold Medal for Voting Rights Foot Soldiers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee – helped lead the committee in passage of a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the foot soldiers who participated in Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday or in the Final Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March in 1965. 

“We best honor the Selma Foot Soldiers by remembering them not just with a medal but by staying true to their purpose,” said Brown in his prepared remarks. “As a former Secretary of State, I believe that we should be in the business of expanding the voting rolls. But lately, too many states have thrown up barriers to voting. Fifty years after Selma, state governments are once again making it harder to vote. We should honor the foot soldiers not just today or on March 7^th, but with everything we do to advance democracy.”

Next month, Brown will lead this year’s bipartisan Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Selma to mark the 50^th anniversary of the historic voting rights marches in March 1965. More than 90 other lawmakers will participate in the trip, which is organized by the Faith and Politics Institute, and will take lawmakers to Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma, and Marion. This will mark Brown’s third year of participation in the pilgrimage.

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