We can only imagine the history of the free world today if, at the end of the Civil War, there had been two countries: the United States and the Confederate States of America.

The Edmund Pettus Bridge - which in 2013 was declared a National Historic Landmark - isn't symbolic of the Civil War in a meaningful way. It is, however, the modern-day battlefield where the voting rights movement was born.

Richard Kerry not only was a pilot in World War II, but was a civil servant. He did not come from money.

Rosa Parks' entire career has been one as working as a civil rights activist.