The Path to Illumination
In 2015, John Legend and Common sang “Glory” on a theatrically lighted Edmund Pettus Bridge for the premier of the movie, “Selma.” The scene was electrifying, and it gave people a taste for bridge-lighting possibilities. On August 4, 2017, a small group of local citizens met at the Bridgetender’s House to consider the feasibility of lighting the Bridge. Mike Lewis, a Selma native, became the facilitator of the effort to light the Bridge and began to research lighting companies that had the expertise to light National Historic Landmarks.
In 2018, the Selma Redevelopment Authority invited Ken Douglas, HLB Senior Principal and Lead Designer, to visit Selma to meet those interested in lighting the EPB. Ken has a history of designing lighting installations for National monuments and historic bridges and was very interested in our project. He met with various community and government groups to see if this was a project the community wanted to pursue, if it was possible, and what would be required.
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, and protests quickly spread across the United States. In response, HLB Lighting prioritized the Edmund Pettus Bridge project and offered to do all the design work free of charge, as their contribution for national racial the edge of the printed For healing. They then invited other companies to join the project, all offering their impressive services pro bono as well. Those partners include:
- Parsons Corporation is an infrastructure engineering firm. PC has more than 16,000 employees across 24 countries. The company has been named one of the world's most ethical companies for 13 consecutive years. Kerry Smith serves as Chair-Woman, President, and CEO of Parsons.
- Lumenpulse designs and manufactures high-performance and sustainable LED solutions for urban environments.
- ETC provides innovative lighting and rigging solutions.
- Barbizon specializes in the integration of lighting and control equipment for civic environments and architecture.
And now, due to the generosity of these companies, the only cost remaining to make this project a reality is the cost of some of the equipment and the cost of hiring a contractor to install the new lighting system onto the Bridge.