Stride for stride

Forty years ago, a young teacher and her husband left their home in Newton to march through the streets of Roxbury with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to protest Boston's segregated schools and the city administrators that allowed the injustice to continue.

Yesterday, that same couple, longtime community activists Katherine and Hubie Jones, retraced their steps along with 5,000 others. They walked to commemorate the 1965 civil rights march in Boston and the more famous march led by King that same year from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., protesting the exclusion of black voters from the polls.

Katherine Jones, now 69, said she is proud of what the original march represented. She is not as pleased with the status of race relations in the country today, as Congress gears up to decide the fate of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

''There still is so much that has not been achieved," said Jones. ''I'm doing this because I think it's really important we make a physical, cumulative presence and make a statement."

The march drew both old and young from many races and religions to the front yard of the First Church of Roxbury at noon yesterday. Organizers said they wanted to mark the anniversary of the historic marches and to raise awareness of the Voting Rights Act's possible expiration. The act forced the country to honor the 15th amendment by challenging poll taxes and banning literacy tests and other methods used to keep blacks from voting. Key provisions of the act -- such as bilingual voting assistance and federal approval of changes in some state election laws -- are set to expire in 2007, if not renewed by Congress.

''On one occasion, they asked a man to give the number of bubbles in a bar of soap" before allowing him to vote, recalled Representative John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, who participated in the Selma march. He was seriously injured after being hit in the head with a police nightstick while crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the march from Selma to Montgomery. Lewis was treated for his concussion at Massachusetts General Hospital.

''The Voting Rights Act didn't just happen," Lewis said. ''We must never, ever forget that some people suffered the supreme sacrifice. The right to vote is precious -- almost sacred."

The 2 1/2-mile march attracted a veritable who's who of Boston and Massachusetts politicians. US Senator John F. Kerry and state Representative Byron Rushing were among several speakers addressing the crowd before the event kicked off. Accompanied by a police escort, the marchers took full advantage of a bright, warm fall day on their route through Roxbury and the South End to Boston Common. ''This was an incredibly segregated city," said Rushing, who called the segregationists of the 1960s ''domestic terrorists." ''We cannot leave this day without telling the truth . . . Boston is better than it was in 1965, but . . . we are not what we want to be."

With linked arms, the marchers sang ''We Shall Overcome" and ''Amen" as they walked. Mayor Thomas M. Menino walked in the front ranks with religious leaders and city councilors, including his election opponent, Councilor at Large Maura Hennigan. Along the way, motorists and pedestrians stopped to watch and listen. One motorcyclist, wearing all black, raised his right fist in the black power salute before speeding down Tremont Street.

One marcher pointed out the Roxbury building where King lived while he was attending Boston University. A gaggle of Tufts University Medical School and Boston College students interrupted their Sunday afternoons to join the crowd.

''We were playing some football," said John Hamilton, 24, a BC graduate student. ''We heard that Dr. King had done this march in 1965 and we thought we might as well join in the cause."

Menino, who marched next to Lewis for part of the route, acknowledged that the city still must make progress in race relations. He said the achievement gap between students of color and white students has to be closed.

''We always can improve," Menino said.

Ciara Nutter, 17, of Haverhill came to the march with her sister, Moriah, 13, and a youth group called Movement City.

''I think that [teens] get it from the book sense, but not the emotional sense," said Nutter, who was excited to shake Lewis's hand. ''I understand it even more so today. I'm glad I was finally able to participate in something like this."

Adrienne P. Samuels can be reached at asamuels@globe.com