The organization that created the billboard that juxtaposed Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan over a photo of state troopers confronting civil rights marchers in Selma 60 years ago opposed the decision to remove it in Montgomery.

According to ARTNews, the organization For Freedoms said the purpose of the billboard was to “spark conversation, reaction, and deeper thinking.”

The billboard mixing Trump’s slogan with one of the most important events of the civil rights movement was not new. It appeared in Pearl, Mississippi in 2016 after Trump was elected to his first term.

At that time, artist Hank Willis Thomas, a co-founder of For Freedoms, said the intent of the billboard was to ask a question that he said went unasked during that 2016 presidential campaign.

“One question that never came up with the President-elect was, when are you talking about?” Thomas said.

“The Cold War? The crack and AIDS epidemic? Interning Japanese citizens? The Depression? The Civil War? When was this time you want the country to go back to? There’s never been a greater time for more citizens than right now.”

In response to the billboard’s removal in Montgomery, For Freedoms co-founder Eric Gottesman issued this statement to ArtNEWS:

“This clear act of censorship underscores the urgency of For Freedoms’ mission to promote free speech and creative expression. One of our missions is to be visionary, not reactionary. This work was created nine years ago, in collaboration with artist Spider Martin, and juxtaposes his historic image with a political slogan that we hope will spark conversation, reflection and deeper thinking.

“We can disagree and dislike what others say but still support their rights to express it. Part of what makes America great is the freedom to express ourselves, we see this censorship as antithetical to this core freedom and to our mission as an organization.”

The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts sponsored the billboard in connection with an upcoming exhibit on the civil rights movement. MMFA said in a statement said it was done so without approval of the museum’s leadership. The For Freedoms logo appeared on the billboard.

The billboard was removed in Montgomery after a request by Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed.

“The legacy of Bloody Sunday represents a pivotal moment in our nation’s fight for equality and justice,” Reed said in a post on the city’s Facebook page. “We must be extremely mindful of how we use such images of our shared history, especially when they risk being perceived as politically charged.”

The photo of Bloody Sunday on the billboard was by Spider Martin, whose work will be featured in the upcoming MMFA exhibition, Selma is Now: Civil Rights Photographs by Spider Martin.

This exhibition will be on view Feb. 28 through June 1. It will be accompanied by an exhibition of student art Jubilee: 60 Years of Bending Towards Justice.

Bloody Sunday happened on March 7, 1965, when about 600 peaceful civil rights marchers were confronted on the Edmund Pettus Bridge by about 65 state troopers, along with deputies and a posse, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama.

The marchers were protesting the fatal shooting of Jimmie Lee Jackson by a state trooper in Marion, a slaying that happened during a campaign of voting rights demonstrations.

The troopers attacked the marchers with batons and tear gas and sent 56 to the hospital.

Two weeks later, marchers under the protection of the National Guard and federal marshals began the trek from Selma to Montgomery. The march concluded in Montgomery on March 25.

The national attention on Bloody Sunday helped build support for passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year.