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Obama says Selma a living history lesson for his daughters

Malia Obama, left, and sister Sasha Obama laugh together as they leave a speech by their father President Barack Obama at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., on the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday," a landmark event of the civil rights movement, Saturday, March 7, 2015. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Malia Obama, left, and sister Sasha Obama laugh together as they leave a speech by their father President Barack Obama at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., on the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday," a landmark event of the civil rights movement, Saturday, March 7, 2015. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

By Associated Press March 7, 2015 1 min read

SELMA, Ala. (AP) – President Barack Obama gave his daughters a living history lesson on the civil rights movement in about four minutes.

Obama paid tribute Saturday to civil rights legends sung and unsung by leading a symbolic march across an Alabama river crossing made famous on Bloody Sunday. That’s when police beat people marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, 50 years ago to protest their lack of voting rights.

Obama was joined by his teenage daughters, Malia and Sasha, first lady Michelle Obama and her mother, Marian Robinson.

Obama told Saturday’s marchers it was an “extraordinary honor” to participate and have his daughters with him.

He recently said he wanted them to come to Selma so he could “remind them of their own obligations” as young people.