The Faith & Politics Institute will convene in Birmingham this weekend to commemorate the 53^rd anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Pilgrimage, and recognize the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

A contingency of bipartisan U.S. Congressional leaders, including Alabama’s U.S. senators and representatives will attend this year’s festivities.

The 2018 Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage kicks off on Friday, March 2 with a reception at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The remainder of the weekend will include tours of historic Alabama landmarks, such as Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge and Montgomery’s Civil Rights Memorial.

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama is an honorary host for the pilgrimage, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis will serve as a special honorary co-host. Lewis, who was beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge during what became known as “Bloody Sunday” on March 7, 1965, started the institute’s annual pilgrimage to Alabama in 1998.

Founded in 1991, the Faith & Politics Institute is a Washington-based nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire political leaders to reflect and engage with one another for the good of our nation. The organization hosts forums, conversations and pilgrimages to historic sites around the country as part of that mission.