The nearly 100 people inside Tabernacle Baptist Church sat in captivated silence,

as they listened to the powerful words of the Rev. Dr. F.D. Reese. Only the occasional amen from the crowd broke Reese’s spell.

It was a story most of them knew,

had seen first hand or at least learned about through grainy film footage and photographs. But as Reese spoke, it was like hearing it for the first time.

Those sitting in rapt attention at Tabernacle Baptist had come to participate in the first event of the 11th annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee.

The mass meeting was meant to recreate and remember the events leading up to the infamous &uot;Bloody Sunday&uot; and the successful Selma to Montgomery March.

Reese spoke of the beatings and harassment thrust upon those in the Voting Rights Movement at the hands of police. He recalled the Dallas County police using cattle prods to discourage blacks from registering to vote.

Reese said on March 7, 1964, the crowd preparing to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge knew the state troopers would be waiting.

The reverend described the scene that day as pandemonium.

It was only a brief moment in time, but it attracted the attention of an entire nation.

Soon civil rights leaders from across the country, including King, arrived in Selma.

With their help, they managed to make that protest trip to Montgomery.

The next Jubilee events being at 9 a.m. today with an Invisible Giant conference and Children’s Sojourn at the School of Discover and Performing Arts Center.