A lecture this week will look at the people and events that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act 50 years ago.

The lecture continues a yearlong series by the National Park Service’s Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.

The event will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Wallace Community College Selma Auditorium.

There will be a panel discussion with civil rights activists and lawyers, Fred D. Gray and Morris S. Dees.

Gray, 84, was born in Montgomery and is a civil rights attorney, preacher and activist. He litigated several major civil rights cases in Alabama, including several that reached the United State Supreme Court. He served as National Bar Association president in 1985 and was elected the first black Alabama State Bar president in 2001. He was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in last year’s major motion pictured “Selma.”

Dees, 78, is the co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.