Obama Marks Civil-Rights Turning Point in Selma Speech

Fifty years after a historic civil-rights confrontation at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., President Barack Obama traveled there to commemorate the marchers with a soaring speech that celebrated how far the U.S. has come, but also criticized what he considers modern-day assaults on voting rights.

Mr. Obama spoke at the foot of the bridge before some 40,000 people, at an event fraught with symbolism, as the nation’s first African-American president honored those who fought to enfranchise blacks. Among those who joined him on stage were first lady Michelle Obama , former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who was at the Selma march. About 100 other members of Congress attended as well.