Thousands gather to commemorate ‘Bloody Sunday’

Thousands of Americans, including Pres. Barack Obama, have converged in Selma, Ala. this weekend to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

USA Today reports that "tens of thousands of Americans" have begun gathering at the historic landmark where more than 600 peaceful protestors, led by now-Congressman John Lewis and Hosea Williams, were beaten by Alabama state troopers as they marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge for voting rights.

The march became known as Bloody Sunday and a key moment of the civil rights movement, which was depicted in the critically-acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film Selma.