Marching wins Battle of the Books!

Amazing -- in the final, Big Kahuna round, Marching won the Battle of the Books.

I am thrilled. And I want to give a great big shout-out to all the young adults who marched and sang and were jailed in the spring of 1965, and decades later told me in vivid detail about their experiences.

Joanne Blackmon Bland, Charles Bonner, Lynda Blackmon Lowery, Charles Mauldin and Bobby Simmons, I mean you.

And my thanks also to all the photographers who hung around for long church meetings, and stood in the tear gas and photographed, and bunked out at night on people's floors.

Matt Herron and Bruce Davidson, I mean you. And in memory of James Karales, Spider Martin, Charles Moore, and John F. Phillips.

Because what we got from all these brave people was public support for the Voting Rights Bill signed into law by President Johnson on August 6, 1965. One person, one vote. This is exactly what makes a strong democracy.

And exactly what makes me proud to be an American.