In 1965, Lewis became nationally known for his efforts to register voters in Alabama in what came to be known as the Selma to Montgomery Marches. On March 7, 1965, he and Hosea Williams organized 600 people in a march to the state capital in Montgomery. Alabama State Troopers stopped them at the foot of the Edmund Pettis Bridge. When they knelt to pray, they were charged by mounted troopers, tear-gassed, and beaten with nightsticks. Lewis suffered a fractured skull. The news media broadcasted the incident to a national audience, and it became known as Bloody Sunday. I photographed Lewis in 2016 at the 51st anniversary of the march.