DAY THREE Selma, Alabama

Words by Markos, Year 12 

Today we were guided through Selma on a tour by Ms Barbara Barge. She was 15 years old when King led the March across the Edmund Pettus bridge in 1965, and had some amazing memories to share with us. We learnt more about the civil rights movement and how the fight continues today. 

After a delicious barbecue lunch, we spent some more time with Barbara and her colleague Joanne to learn about what it was like to be part of such an incredible movement. They shared with us not only their own powerful experiences, but their advice and encouragement about how we as young people can fight for justice around the world. This was my favourite part of the trip so far. Learning about history through books and films is one thing, but hearing it through the words of the people involved was a truly unforgettable experience, which I’m incredibly grateful to have had.

Words by Rosalind and Sofia, Year 13

“Fight injustice whenever you see it.”

This was the phrase repeated to us throughout the day by two remarkable women, Jo Ann Bland and Barbara Barge, who taught us that we, the youth, have the ability to enact real, genuine change in the name of equality. Through stories of their teenage years, living in the segregated South and joining the Civil Rights movement in Selma, Alabama, they brought to life the lived experiences of the grassroots movement that successfully fought to give black Americans the right to vote.

Ms. Bland and Ms. Barge attended meetings at Brown Chapel where they were trained by the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. for the monumental march between Selma and Montgomery in 1965. They were active participants in the three marches that took place, with Ms. Bland being caught up in the tragic Bloody Sunday whilst Ms. Barge witnessed the horror from the road leading to the now infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge. Their fierce, undying passion was an inspiration, and it was a rare privilege to hear their real, emotional accounts of their childhoods outside the restrictions of a textbook.

We began the day with a visit to a graveyard, one, much to our collective shock, that not only held the bodies of some 195 Confederate soldiers, but celebrated and honoured them. In amongst the dozens of Confederate flags was a memorial to Nathan Bedford Forrest. To us, he is known as a Grandwizard of the Klu Klux Klan, the epitome of racist ideology and violence in the South, however to the plaque accompanying his memorial he rose from humble beginnings “through various business ventures”, with his memory now “tainted” by accusations of violence against black Americans, and “rumours” of his involvement with the KKK. This manipulation of history undermines the brutal terror of his legacy, blatantly ignoring the slaves who made his fortune, and the successive horrors he organised against black Americans in the South. We found ourselves perplexed by this plaque, and the sea of Confederate flags that surrounded it, indicating the continued presence of the Confederacy and a purposeful justification of racial violence.

Following this visit we met with Ms. Barge who led us on a tour of Selma. Our first stop was the future site of the Foot Soldiers Park & Education Centre, where a series of murals are currently displayed. Ms. Barge told us about each of them, and two particularly stuck out to us. The first showed a young girl behind bars with the phrase “11x13 = Jail”. This was an image of Ms. Bland, referencing the fact that by the age of 11 she had already been documented in jail 13 times simply for the act of peaceful protest. Such a shocking story highlighted the extent of injustice in the South, that not only were young children motivated to protest for their freedom, but they were arrested for it. The other had a sweeter story behind it, with “MLK” printed against the familiar red and white swirls of a peppermint sweet. Ms. Barge told us that whenever MLK would give a speech he would bring peppermints in his pockets for the children who attended, and would always try and talk to as many of them as possible. She had her own story to accompany this as, when MLK came to meet her, he had run out of peppermints and instead kissed her on the cheek, much to her excitement – she ran home to her mother swearing she would never wash her face again.

From there we walked to Brown Chapel, the heart of the movement, where the march itself was organised. It was here in this small church, through the strength of the local community, that the fight for black American voting rights was won. However, Ms. Barge also made it clear that the fight is not over as the Voting Act that came out of the march is being systematically deconstructed, using the stone memorial outside the church to make her point. Here, the three names of those who died as part of the march were listed. Rev. James Reeb, Viola Liuzzo, and Jimmie Lee Jackson, so listed from white man, to white woman, to black man, despite the fact that Jimmie Lee Jackson’s unjust death sparked the march in the first place.

From there we drove through Selma, witnessing the devastating effects of a tornado that swept through the town in January of last year, and returned to the graveyard where Ms. Barge gave us a more detailed history of the site. Her comment on the cannons within the graveyard were particularly evocative, as they are faced north to show that when the South rises again, it will be ready.

Following on from the tour we went to Lannie’s Bar-B-Q Spot for a classic Southern BBQ. There we had the honour of being joined by Ms. Bland who told us her story as we ate. She commanded the room, and the attentive silence spoke to the power of her words as she guided us through her life, from the crowded jails cells she was forced into as a child, to her own experience on the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the later successful march. Her older sister, who turned 15 during the march, was the youngest person to complete the whole walk from Selma to Montgomery, and was herself injured on Bloody Sunday, needing to receive 35 stiches in her head as a result. The atmosphere in the room was indescribable, and as we left for one final stop at Edmund Pettus Bridge, following the path Ms. Bland and so many others walked 59 years ago, there was an inspiration in every one of us to fight injustice whenever we see it.