At least five days of activities are scheduled to commemorate the 51st anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma-to-Montgomery march, the landmark event that sparked passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, his wife, Faya Rose Toure, and others announced this year's Bridge Crossing Jubilee, which will take place March 3-6.
Sanders said organizers had expected Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to attend, but that is less likely since the Democratic National Committee announced that a debate is scheduled for Flint, Mich., on March 6.
Last year, on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, President Barack Obama spoke in Selma at an event attended by former President George W. Bush.
The annual bridge crossing reenactment took place the next day.
This year's bridge crossing reenactment is scheduled for March 6 at 2:30 p.m., starting at Brown Chapel AME Church and proceeding over the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Among the other scheduled activities: a parade, street festival and music, theater festival, film festival, pageant and workshops on immigration, voting rights, health and environment, criminal justice and education.
For a schedule, go to the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee website.
The city of Selma is sponsoring a separate set of events the same weekend called the "March on Selma Celebration."
Mayor George Evans told the Montgomery Advertiser that the city-sponsored event is not intended to detract from the Bridge Crossing Jubilee.
Bloody Sunday took place on March 7, 1965. Hundreds of peaceful marchers crossed the bridge to set out for the State Capitol in Montgomery to protest the slaying of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was fatally shot by a state trooper at a voting rights rally in Marion a few weeks before.
Gov. George Wallace directed state troopers to stop the marchers. Troopers and other law enforcement used billy clubs and tear gas to drive the marchers back, sending more than 50 to hospitals.
News coverage of the brutal tactics helped galvanize national support for the voting rights movement.
Two weeks after Bloody Sunday, marchers set out from Selma to Montgomery again, this time under the protection of National Guard troops. They reached Montgomery on March 25.
President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law later that year.
Updated at 4:48 p.m. to say the city of Selma is sponsoring a separate celebration.