Here's what's happening during the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee this weekend

Thousands of people gather in Selma every year to commemorate the fight for Black voting rights and remember the violence that took place there on March 7, 1965.

On what is now known as Bloody Sunday, over 500 activists marched from Brown Chapel to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, demanding Black Americans' right to vote. They planned to walk 54 miles to Montgomery, but when they crossed the bridge, about 150 state troopers, sheriff's deputies and others ordered them to stop.

Troopers gave a two-minute warning for the protesters to disperse before advancing on them with tear gas and clubs. Dozens were injured and hospitalized following the brutal attack.

Two weeks later, Martin Luther King Jr. led protesters in completing the peaceful march as intended, and the events mobilized Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act, which President Johnson signed into law on August 6, 1965.

Now, every year on the first weekend in March, Selma celebrates voting rights, freedom and the activists who were willing to put themselves in harm's way in order to fight for positive change in the United States.

The most widely attended event is the commemorative crossing of the bridge on Sunday, but the Jubilee includes dozens of other meetings, ceremonies and celebrations.

Here are some of the major events happening in Selma this weekend.

Friday, March 3

• From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., a photo exhibit of Bloody Sunday will be on display in Walton Theater at 1000 Selma Ave. The exhibit is titled Honoring the Selma "Bloody Sunday" Foot Soldiers, and it will include photos from the collections of Auburn University and Georgia Tech.

• From 9 a.m. to noon, Jubilee will host The Education Summit at Wallace Community College. Speakers will include Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School Executive Director Kristal Moore Clemons, racism and white supremacy scholar Raymond Winbush, cultural historian Anthony Browder and African-American studies scholar Robert White.

• From 8:30 a.m. to noon, Children's Sojourn will take place in the Selma High School Auditorium. The event is geared toward educating K-12 youth about African history, civil rights and Black culture.

• From 7 to 9 p.m., Wallace Theater will host a film screening of Freedom Riders: Carrying Forward Their Legacy and a Q&A with director Stanley Lewis Jr., civil rights activist Bernard Lafayette and freedom rider Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. The film is a two-hour documentary based on Raymond Arsenault's book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.

• From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Jubilee will offer a space for "public conversation" in Earl Goodwin Theater at Wallace Community College. Speakers and hosts for this event have not yet been announced.

Saturday, March 4

• The annual Foot Soldiers Breakfast will be from 8 to 10 a.m. in the Selma High School cafeteria. Entry requires at least a $5 donation. Every year, many of the activists who participated in the first march across the bridge on Bloody Sunday attend the breakfast and share their testimonies. Past speakers have included Amelia Boynton Robinson and Marie Foster.

• The Jubilee Parade will happen from 8 to 10 a.m. as well, starting at Concordia College, 1712 Broad St., and walking a route to Edmund Pettus Bridge on Water Ave.

• Starting at 11 a.m. and lasting until 7 p.m. will be the Jubilee Street Festival. Dozens of booths will be set up along Water Avenue selling food, clothing and souvenirs. The featured guests are soul musician Lenny Williams and rapper Lil Scrappy.

• From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wallace Theater will host a film screening of Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day and a Q&A with Lynching and Leisure author Terry Anne Scott and University of St. Thomas Racial Justice Initiative Director Yohuru Williams. Lynching Postcards is a short film directed by Christine Turner that examines the horrific history of lynchings as cultural events.

• From noon to 2 p.m., the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice will sponsor an event called Under the Bridge: The Need for Reparations in Selma and Beyond outside of Brown Chapel. The conversation will center on the idea of reparations for slavery.

• The 24th annual Miss Jubilee Pageant will begin at 6 p.m. at Selma High School. The pageant is for girls ages 13-18, and contestants are judged on the opening scene, communication skills, talent, and stage presence.

• The final event Saturday is the Freedom Flame Awards Gala, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the former Concordia College campus at 1712 Broad St. Tickets are $75 per person or $800 for a table. This year's honorees include Sen. Raphael Warnock, Atlantis Browder, Debra Watkins, Terry Shaw, Charles Bonner, Betty Boynton, Willie C. Robertson, Cleophus Hobbs, Janet Howard Moore, Margaret Howard and Henry Allen.

Sunday, March 5

• The first event on Sunday is the annual Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast, which will be from 7 to 9:30 a.m. at Wallace Community College. Tickets to the breakfast are $75 per person. Google's Global Head of Social Impact Reginald McKnight will be in attendance as a special guest speaker.

• Following Sunday morning services at Tabernacle Baptist Church, Clinton Chapel, Brown Chapel and First Baptist Church from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., there will be a pre-march rally outside of Brown Chapel beginning around 1:30 p.m.

• Then, the Fight for the Vote March and Rally will begin. It is set to start about 2 p.m. at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, but timing could change depending on how many people are there and security. This is the event that President Biden will attend, and he will give a speech. After he and other speakers address the crowd, they will lead marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

• After the commemorative march, there will be the Bridge Awards, honoring community leaders in Selma at the Bridge Awards, Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, & Reconciliation.

Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for the Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser or donate to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: What to expect during Selma Jubilee this weekend