Rights Activists Finish Selma March : Race relations: Group retraces historic trek in 1965 that led to Voting Rights Act. Jesse Jackson says the struggle is still going on.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. —  Civil rights activists took the final steps Saturday in retracing the historic Selma-to-Montgomery voting-rights march, winding up at the Alabama Capitol below a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson; the Rev. Joseph Lowery and Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, addressed about 1,000 people who marked the 30th anniversary of the march, which led to passage of the Voting Rights Act.

“Thirty years later, the struggle continues. Thirty years later, our voting rights are under attack,” Jackson told the crowd. About 100 people, including the 73-year-old Lowery, made the 54-mile journey.

Some people held signs with messages such as “Save Our Voting Rights” and “Don’t Let Congress Destroy the Dream.”

Jackson said Congress, a more conservative court system and even Democratic President Clinton, are trying to turn back the clock on civil rights.

“Thirty years later, the Republicans say react and reconsider,” said Jackson, who only walked the trip’s last leg, 4 1/2 miles. “Thirty years later, some Democrats say review and retreat. We say review and renew. We say review and recommit.”

In 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a march to Montgomery a week after voting-rights activists were beaten back by troopers in Selma.

Twenty-five thousand people turned out at the Capitol to hear King and others demand equal voting rights for blacks.

On a sunny day with temperatures in the mid-70s, at least one woman appeared overcome by the heat.

Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the marchers encountered all types of weather.

“We came upon a storm, but we did not stop,” he said. “We came upon a cold wind that chilled our bones, but we did not stop. A tornado touched down, but we did not stop.”