For a long weekend in March 2025, a group of Philadelphia Bar Association members had the unique opportunity to experience a Civil Rights Journey, a weekend long CLE program, that allowed us to immerse ourselves in the history of the fight for racial justice and voting rights, hearing directly from the people who witnessed – and made – history.
We traveled from Atlanta to Montgomery to Selma to Birmingham, engrossed in the unique and powerful opportunity to dive into the history of the civil rights movement. One particularly poignant moment was walking across the hallowed ground of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. We were deeply moved as we walked the same path that, 60 years earlier, brave men and women had crossed in an effort to secure voting rights for Black Americans. Images of the brutal attack on those marchers were broadcast around the country, helping lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant pieces of legislation of the Civil Rights Era.
It is not an exaggeration to say that, for many of us, this journey changed our lives. As planners of the event, we welcome you to follow our journey, and we invite you to consider making such a journey yourself in 2026 for the Association’s next Civil Rights Journey.
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"Our Civil Rights Journey," by Kathy Ochroch and Kathy Jaffari was published in The Philadelphia Lawyer, Vol. 88 No. 2, on July 15, 2025.