Alabama Congresswoman Sewell Welcomes Voting Rights Bill Fight

Rep. Terri Sewell stood at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge

Photos: Twitter\Wikimedia Commons

In August, Rep. Terri Sewell stood at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in her hometown, Selma, Alabama, to tout H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

Sewell, Alabama’s only Black member of Congress and the delegation’s only Democrat, had high hopes after she introduced the legislation named in honor of her late mentor and friend.

The House voted soon afterward to pass the bill, but it stalled in the Senate last year. In January, a modified measure called the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act failed to clear the chamber.

“We’re at a great inflection point in our nation’s history,” said Sewell, a Harvard-educated lawyer who was elected to Congress in 2010. “We have to remember John’s words: ‘Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part.’”

Sewell returned home this month and headed to the infamous bridge for the 57th commemoration of Bloody Sunday. Read more.

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