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Foot Soldiers Park celebrated its third anniversary on March 2.

Founder and Chief Strategy Officer JoAnne Bland, one of the few surviving Foot Soldiers, said the mission is to honor the giants, unsung heroes of the civil rights movement who lived, fought and made history in Selma. A former Foot Soldier, George Sallie, passed away last month.

“Foot Soldiers Park belongs to the people,” Bland said. “We still have Foot Soldiers, and we haven’t left the battlefield.”

State Senator Robert Stewart was the keynote speaker at the event, honoring the past and present foot soldiers.

“There’s no power like people’s power,” Stewart said. “It’s not lost on me that I wouldn’t be your State Senator without the Foot Soldiers.”

Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. talked at a ceremony held earlier last week about the importance of Foot Soldiers Park honoring people who were killed on March 7, 1965, known as “Bloody Sunday.”

The Foot Soldiers Youth Ambassador Board members introduced were Carmen Benjamin, Alexis Perry, Jamiya Edwards, Safiya White, Willie Cain, MacKenzie Lewis, Zachenzie Milhouse, Kristian Stamps, Camron Benjamin, Sydney Pritchett, Jolie Jackson, Micah Thomas, Kenslee England, Morgan Escott Holmes, JyKerria Oliver and Denisa Sullivan.

Collins Pettaway III was the Master of Ceremonies. Former Selma City Councilwoman Angela Benjamin also attended the ceremony.