Oprah, who produced the civil rights film, Selma, which was last week nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film, told a ten-thousand strong crowd in Alabama to remembers the courage of the first civil rights campaigners.
She marched alongside the actor David Oyelowo, who plays Martin Luther King jnr in her movie, and Ava DuVernay, who wrote and directed it.
The film tells the story of black civil rights protestors who set off from the town of Selma, Alabama, in March 1965, with the aim of walking all the way to the state capital, to register to vote.
They were beaten by police and hit with tear gas.
Two weeks after the original march Martin Luther King jnr and his supporters began marching again, gathering tens of thousands of people as they went.
Those marches, which inspired and informed King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, ultimately led to the Voting Rights Act.
‘Those marchers were heroes,’ Oprah said.
There was outrage in the US last week, after the performances of all the black actors in Selma were overlooked for Oscars.
Every person nominated in every acting category is white.
However, the first black president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, said no offence was intended.
“What is important not to lose sight of is that Selma, which is a fantastic motion picture, was nominated for best picture this year,” she told AP. “And the best picture category is voted on by the entire membership of around 7000 people.”
The Oscars were criticised for ignoring women, too. There were no women listed amongst the nominees for directing or screenwriting.
The Selma march was timed to coincide with the Martin Luther King jnr long weekend.
