Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed on Thursday asked for the removal of a billboard ad that showed a historical photo of state troopers confronting civil rights marchers in Selma on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 with the “Make America Great Again” slogan of Donald Trump.

The sign showed the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts as the advertiser.

“As soon as I was made aware of the billboard featuring a politicized image of Bloody Sunday, I immediately inquired whether it had been purchased by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA),” Reed said in a post on the city’s Facebook page.

“Upon learning that it was, I requested that the image be removed from all billboards without delay.”

The MMFA released a statement saying the billboard was placed without approval by the museum’s leadership but did not explain how that happened.

The MMFA did not elaborate on why a photo of one of the most important events in the civil rights movement was displayed with Trump’s slogan.

The statement noted that the museum has an exhibit on Bloody Sunday beginning on Feb. 28.

“Earlier this month two billboards featuring the Museum’s logo appeared,“ the museum said. ”They juxtaposed a historic photo with a political statement, without context. This has caused confusion and concern.

“The decision to place the billboards was made without the approval of Museum leadership or the Joint Boards. Once made aware of the billboards, the MMFA leadership had them immediately removed.

“The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts has been without a permanent Director for almost two years, leading to challenges for the institution.”

The statement goes on to say that the MMFA has named a new interim director, Jennifer Dobbs, to avoid similar occurrences. Dobbs is cultural affairs director for the city of Montgomery. She will serve as interim director while the museum finalizes a new operating agreement with the city and seeks a permanent director, the statement said.

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.

“The legacy of Bloody Sunday represents a pivotal moment in our nation’s fight for equality and justice,” Reed wrote on his Facebook post.

“We must be extremely mindful of how we use such images of our shared history, especially when they risk being perceived as politically charged.”

This story was edited at 12:13 p.m. to give the correct date for the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery march.