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The body of civil rights icon John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Sunday, decades after his “Bloody Sunday” beating there drew a national spotlight to the struggle for racial equality.
A military honor guard carried his American flag-draped casket from Brown Chapel AME Church to a horse-drawn carriage, which crossed the rose-petal strewn bridge where the battering of Lewis by a white state trooper during a voting rights demonstration in 1965 became a focal point of the movement. The carriage driver wore black top hat and a white face mask to guard against spread of the coronavirus.
Hundreds of people singing civil rights anthems watched “The Final Crossing” event. It was part of a multi-day celebration of the life of the congressman, whose body will lie in state at the U. S. Capitol in Washington, D. C., on Monday.
After his casket crossed the bridge, it was saluted by mask-wearing Black and white Alabama state troopers.
