By Adam Dodson
The Selma Times-Journal

Selma and seven of its civil rights landmarks will be on display this upcoming Tuesday when a commercial crew centered around the new national civil rights trail comes to town.
Named “The United States Civil Rights Trail,” it was announced in mid-January by Gov. Kay Ivey as a part of an interstate initiative to focus on the history of the civil rights movement.

Selma-Dallas County has seven locations on the trail which covers more than 130 sites. These sites are the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Brown Chapel AME Church, the Selma Interpretive Center, the National Voting Rights Museum, the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, the Sullivan and Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson Foundation and Museum, and the Lowndes Interpretive Center.

Montgomery and Birmingham are among cities that are also featured on the trail, with Montgomery having 10 sites and Birmingham having four.

The crew responsible for filming the commercial come under the leadership of Alabama’s Tourism Department. The idea is to promote the lessons and history behind the Alabama portion of the trail, which stretches from Kansas to Washington D.C.

According to Sheryl Smedley, Executive Director of the Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, the commercial crew’s stop in Selma will be part of their day-long tour where they will visit Montgomery and Birmingham as well.

The Department of Tourism’s commercial team is expected to be in each city for two hours to get all the shots they need.

One of the purposes of the trail was to boost tourism across the state. With the trail and the upcoming commercial, Smedley is excited to see what the future holds for tourism.
“It will definitely be a boost to our local economy. The purpose of this is to promote communities that played a role in the civil rights movement through the trail,” Smedley said.

While Smedley knows that they are scheduled to be in town Tuesday, May 22, she said she does not know an exact time line for the crew’s visit or when the commercial will run.
Updated information on the commercial will be provided on the day of the visit by the state’s commercial crew.