More than 200 marchers—including college students from as far away as Idaho—yesterday carried on the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama, where activists in the labor, civil rights and faith communities on Sunday began a five-day journey. 

Thousands of AFL-CIO union members and civil rights, community and faith activists yesterday began a five-day re-enactment of the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march.

Yesterday we told you about a proposed draconian new law in the Georgia legislature (SB 469) that could make union picketing a felony. Here are two new developments. The sheriff of Georgia’s biggest county says the bill would put him in the job of policing free speech and today a group of union, community and faith activists spoke out against the bill.

Nearly 47 years ago, civil rights activists of different races, ages and walks of life were attacked by armed officers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., as they marched for racial justice. This day became known as Bloody Sunday. This Sunday, AFL-CIO union members, civil rights, community and faith activists will begin a five-day re-enactment of the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march. The march will focus attention on new attacks on voting rights, immigrants, workers’ rights and education.

Sarah Seltzer writes for Alternet and other online publications and sends us this. Follow Sarah on Twitter.

As the AFL-CIO documented in a study, the situation for immigrants in Alabama has grown increasingly dire: A “humanitarian crisis” has resulted from a Draconian anti-immigration law, HB 56, one of the nation’s harshest.

The AFL-CIO is joining with civil rights, community and labor partners in the re-enactment of the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march that will focus attention on new attacks on voting rights, immigrants, workers’ rights and education.

Laura Markwardt, senior communications associate at the Alliance for Retired Americans, sends us this.

Hundreds of Florida seniors and others turned out for a rally in Tampa Friday against voter suppression. The rally was followed by a hearing inside the courthouse about the new law chaired by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who came to investigate whether the state law denies voters their constitutional rights. Durbin is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights.

Most people remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legendary 1963 Washington, D.C, “I Have a Dream” speech. But what most don’t know, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said at the AFL-CIO’s Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Observance and National Conference in Detroit, is that “the seeds of Dr. King’s dream were sown first,” in the Motor City.

In Detroit—a historic crossroads for both the labor and civil rights movements—more than 550 activists and leaders of those movements will honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the AFL-CIO’s  annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Observance and National Conference.

AFSCME is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a special website, a brand new video on the union’s history and a yearlong series of events.