The event celebrated equal access to the vote for all Americans. Thousands marched 54 miles to demand those rights, and on the first day, known as Bloody Sunday, law enforcement beat more than 500 people.
Lubbock's version covered one mile. John Gatica, a PTA officer at Estacado High School, said, "Obviously, we're not walking 54 miles, but one mile will be symbolic of that." He said the route also ran along MLK Boulevard, and organizers hoped it would encourage young people and past nonvoters to come out, cast a ballot and have their voice heard.
NAACP President Milton Lee lived through that era and is using the walk to teach younger people what the marchers sacrificed. "I am one of the senior citizens who were there during the time in 1964 and 65, when they did the Selma march," he said. Lee stressed the NAACP is not telling anyone who to vote for, only that every vote matters.
Vice President Leon Williams said young people need to learn this history, and he knows it firsthand: "My parents couldn't vote until I was a teenager."