Beyond Fifty Years is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the city of Marion, Alabama and its people economically, socially, and culturally. Situated in the heart of Alabama's Black Belt, Marion is in a unique position to reap some of the benefits of its peoples' involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. The death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot by police officers during a night march in Marion in February of 1965, sparked the Selma to Montgomery marches and the eventual passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. To the end of revitalizing Marion and recognizing it as the true birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, Beyond Fifty Years sponsors several artistic, cultural, and economic development events in the city.