'Selma' Movie Cast: Oprah Winfrey, John Legend and Common Talk March Through Alabama, Film on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2015
Oprah Winfrey, Common and actor David Oyelowo were among the cast members of the movie "Selma" who commemorated Martin Luther King, Jr. by marching with hundreds of people in Selma, Alabama on Sunday.
Also among the marchers was "Selma" movie director Ava DuVernay and R&B singer John Legend, who earned an Oscar nomination for the song "Glory" was featured in the film, ABC News reports. The song includes rap verses from Common.
The stars participated in the march in order to pay tribute to the late Civil Rights leader by retracing his steps when he led thousands of people through Selma in effort to fight for voting rights for African Americans in 1965.
The movie "Selma" chronicled the turbulent events leading up to the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, which eventually led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It also put a spotlight on the police brutality that marchers endured as they walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, an infamous day in American history also known as "Bloody Sunday."
Later that month, Dr. King led another march to Montgomery with about 25,000 people.
Following Sunday's march in Selma, Common and John Legend performed their hit song "Glory."
According to Common, who also starred in the movie, the song exemplifies a link between the struggle of the Civil Rights Era and today's social justice movements.
"We are the ones that can change the world," Common said. "It is up to us, and it takes all us -- black, white, Latino, Asian, native-American, whatever nationality or religious background. There is a certain togetherness that we've got to have."
Legend said it was an honor to take the steps King took in 1965 as he led the movement for voting rights.
"I feel humbled because I know how much they sacrificed. They did so at the risk of their lives," he said. "I studied the civil rights movement growing up and I was always inspired by Dr. King and all those that worked with him."
Winfrey, who helped produce "Selma" and played activist Annie Lee Cooper, praised the original marchers for their courage.
"Look at what they were able to do with so little, and look at how we now have so much," Winfrey said, reports the Associated Press. "If they could do that, imagine what now can be accomplished with the opportunity through social media and connection, the opportunity through understanding that absolutely we are more alike than we are different."
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