On February 6th, 1982, a group of civil rights activists and supporters began a significant 140 mile protest march from the Pickens County Courthouse in Carrollton, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery. This event, often called the Carrollton to Montgomery March (or Pilgrimage), marked a key moment in the ongoing struggle for voting rights in the United States during the early 1980s.

The march was organized primarily by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), led by Rev. Joseph Lowery (its president at the time), along with support from other civil rights groups and leaders. It was a direct response to the controversial conviction and imprisonment of two Black women activists from Pickens County:

Maggie Bozeman, a 51 year old teacher and local NAACP chapter president.

Julia Wilder, a 69 year old SCLC officer.

In 1979, these women (known as the “Carrollton Two”) were convicted of voter fraud by an all white jury for helping elderly, illiterate Black voters mark their ballots during an election. Many viewed the charges as retaliatory and racially motivated, part of broader efforts to suppress Black political participation in rural Alabama. The women began serving their sentences in January 1982 after appeals failed, prompting outrage and calls for justice. Their case highlighted persistent barriers to voting despite the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The march deliberately echoed the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, with participants re-enacting parts of that route and crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma around Valentine’s Day (February 14th), where thousands gathered.

By the time marchers reached Montgomery on February 18th & 19th, 1982, the crowd had grown to an estimated 3,500–5,000 people rallying at the state capitol steps. Chanting, singing freedom songs and speeches emphasized unity and persistence.

This march stands as one of the longest civil rights pilgrimages in the South since 1965, symbolizing continued resistance against voter suppression in the post-Civil Rights era.