here. it has also become a tourist attraction. people come here to see if they can feel anything of what the marchers may have felt in 1965. they walk across the bridge they drive across the bridge. and right now, we understand congressman john lewis is actuallies just a few blocks away from here at brown ame chapel where civil rights foot soldiers would meet before they would carry out the march that took place on edmund pettus bridge and we are looking forward to hearing from him later on today. brown is where lewis and other civil right foot soldiers would get together and talk about their plan what would happen if they would confront violence. here s a reflection of 1965. standing up there and the people started running.
president was about an hour late leaving the white house. but the white house can make things happen whenever they want to. but so far, the schedule is the president of the united states will be speaking right here behind me at the foot of the edmund petis bridge at roughly 2:30 eastern time. and an hour after that we understand his speech will be 40 minutes long. an hour after that the family will walk across this bridge. and everyone feels a certain something when they go across that bridge whether they drive it or whether they walk it. the first family will be walking it. and then about 30 minutes after they get to the other side of the bridge they will be going to the first building they come to on the right. and that is the national voting rights museum. and we had the privilege of going through that museum last weekend, and talking with the historian there. and this is what the president and the first family are going to see. they re going to see photographs perhaps they have nev
bridge represents both a painful beginning and hopeful continueum continuum. andrew young wasn t among those who walked across this bridge and was beaten that sunday march 7th 1965 but he was on the other side helping to coordinate the hundreds of people who it turned out. today reverend andrew young is 82. and he says pushing for voting rights with this small alabama city as a backdrop helped move a nation both spiritually and politically after the 1964 civil rights act. even though lyndon johnson had been the master of the senate and the majority leader and had more ious than almost anybody in the history of the congress it was hard for him to go right back five months later, for another civil rights bill. but when we left the white house, and i asked dr. king well what do you think, i thought he was being flippant.
edmund petis bridge. the president of the united states taking the podium later this afternoon, air force one now in the air, along with the first family making their way here. the schedule has slipped because of the delay at the white house. but so far, everything is still on schedule. meantime still on schedule for so many people who have turned out here. i ve talked to people who are on buses, from minnesota. i talked to folks who got on planes from arizona. and our ryan young is in the thick of it right now, and he is talking to a number of people who have come from all over the country representing all walks of life. ryan what are you finding? reporter: well we ve been working our way through the crowd. i can tell you, we have talked to people as far away as cal who decided to drive this direction. if you look at the swell of people working their way around the security gates, they wanted to be here to have a part of history. in fact we met a family from florida who said they tr
it s a bridge now just as important for what it brings together than for what it kept apart. from above, you can see the edmund pettus bridge stretch across the alabama river. named after a general, u.s. senator and high-ranking member of the ku klux clan time has not changed this landmark much over the last 50 years. i had no idea there was a possibility of violence. selma gave so much to america and the world. this bridge is a powerful piece of metal for so many people across the country. when you stand here you can t really see what s on the other side of the bridge. and the protesters had no idea what they were walking toward. but their walk changed the future of this country. the images that were beamed across the country, the video that helped everyone understand