Isakson, Cantor are GOP Co-Leaders of Civil Rights Pilgrimage

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) are the GOP co-leaders of the annual Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to historic sites of the Civil Rights movement in Alabama on March 1-3.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) leads the event each year with a commemorative march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., where he was beaten unconscious in 1965 in a voting rights demonstration. Lewis, who’s been in Congress since 1987, has returned each year since 1965.

The pilgrimage will travel to Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, commemorating the 50^th anniversaries of pivotal Civil Rights events such as the desegregation of the University of Alabama, the Birmingham children’s crusade, the bombing at the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and the Martin Luther King letters from the Birmingham jail.

“I am extremely honored to be a Senate co-leader of this year’s Civil Rights pilgrimage to Alabama with my friend John Lewis. John is a hero for his bravery during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, and his efforts continue to pave the way for equality, liberty and freedom for all,” Isakson said. “This is the 50^th anniversary of so many pivotal Civil Rights events, and I am humbled to make this pilgrimage to Alabama alongside John Lewis.”

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will round out the bipartisan co-leaders. Reps. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), Martha Roby (R-Ala.), and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) will serve as honorary co-hosts.