03/07/2024
Let this be a reminder of how a life's work becomes their legacy. What might your legacy be?
Amelia Boynton Robinson, a matriarch of the Civil Rights Movement, was one of the organizers of the famous Selma March known as "Bloody Sunday" which took place 59 years ago today. Originally from Savannah, Georgia, Robinson registered to vote in Alabama in 1934, a difficult feat at the time due to the state's discriminatory practices, and then spent decades registering African Americans to vote. In 1964, she also became the first African American woman in Alabama to run for Congress. However, it was a now iconic photograph taken of Robinson during the first Selma March in 1965, where she is collapsed in a young man's arms after being beaten and gassed, that brought national attention to her pivotal role in the movement. Five months later, she was a guest of honor at the White House when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act into law.
A graduate of Tuskegee University, Robinson worked for the US Department of Agriculture giving nutritional instruction to rural households. Along with her husband, Samuel William Boynton, she worked on voter registration efforts in Alabama since the 1930s. Her house long served as a meeting place for civil rights activists and the Selma-to-Montgomery marches were planned there. She also helped persuade Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- who later led the second and third Selma marches -- to focus his organizing efforts on the city of Selma.
While the city of Selma was 50% black, only 300 African American voters were registered to vote. The infamous "Bloody Sunday" March on March 7, 1965 ended in violence and the striking image of the then 54-year-old woman left for dead on the Edmund Pettus Bridge was seen worldwide. Two short weeks later, the third Selma march -- during which federal troops protected thousands of protesters -- successfully reached Montgomery. Robinson was still recovering from her injuries, but the impact of her efforts was obvious the following year when 11,000 African-American voters were registered in Selma.
Robinson re-entered the public eye with Lorraine Toussaint’s depiction in the 2014 film “Selma”, a film she called “fantastic” after the studio arranged a private screening for her. When she crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge again in 2015, this time pushed in a wheelchair next to the President Barack Obama, she said: “I look back at the time that we fought and when those heads were beaten. It makes me realize that this is where I belong... This is where God sees me -- at this age, at 103 years old -- in order that I might be able to reach out and pull [people] up.” Amelia Boynton Robinson passed away in 2015 at the age of 104.
For two books to introduce children to heroic girls and women of the famous Selma March, we highly recommend "Child of the Civil Rights Movement" for ages 4 to 8 (https://www.amightygirl.com/child-of-the-civil-rights-movement) and "Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March," for 12 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/turning-15-on-the-road-to-freedom)
For a moving picture book tracing the long fight for voting rights, check out "
Lillian's Right To Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965" for ages 5 to 9 at https://www.amightygirl.com/lillian-s-right-to-vote
For teens and adults, John Lewis has written a powerful graphic novel trilogy about the events of these period entitled "March" at http://amzn.to/2vLhc3n
For an excellent film one girl's experience as a civil rights activist in Selma, we highly recommend “Selma, Lord, Selma” for ages 9 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/selma-lord-selma
To check out the moving film "Selma", for ages 13 and up, visit https://amzn.to/3rtsxQ4 -- or stream it online at https://amzn.to/3axbQua
For more books for children and teens about courageous girls and women of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, check out our blog post on "50 Inspiring Books on Girls & Women of the Civil Rights Movement" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11177
