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 Born in Selma, AL, Ms. Bland began her career as a civil rights activist at age 8. She was 11 when she marched on "Bloody Sunday," and again on "Turnaround Tuesday." She was the youngest person jailed in a civil rights demonstration. Ms. Bland is the cofounder and former director of the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma. (Bill Ganzel photo)
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Born in 1911, Amelia Boynton Robinson campaigned for women's suffrage when she was a young girl. In 1964, she became the first Black woman from Alabama to run for Congress in Alabama, and the first woman to run for office as a Democrat in Alabama. She was one of the organizers of the Selma to Montgomery march. She was beaten unconscious while attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus bridge on "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965. She is pictured below, 50 years ago, and today (in wheelchair, holding President Obama's hand).
At 15, Lynda Blackmon Lowery was the youngest person to finish the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965. On March 7, "Bloody Sunday," the then-14 year old was beaten so badly she needed 7 stitches above her right eye and 28 in the back of her head. By age 15, she had been jailed 9 times while demonstrating for civil rights. Ms. Lowery has recently written a memoir, "Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom."  Blanche Calloway was an accomplished jazz singer, composer, and bandleader known for her flamboyant performing style. She was the first woman to lead an all-male orchestra, and was a major influence on the career and style of her younger brother, Cab. In later years, she was a DJ and program director at WMBM in Miami Beach; while in Florida, she became the first Black precinct voting clerk, and the first Black woman to vote in Florida in 1958.  A celebrated contralto, Ms. Anderson was the first Black artist to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to let her sing to an integrated audience in their Constitution Hall. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest and helped organize a concert at the Lincoln Memorial instead, where Ms. Anderson sang before a live audience of 75,000 and a radio audience of millions. Ms. Anderson supported the civil rights movement of the 60's, and sang at the 1963 March on Washington. She was a delegate to the UN Human Rights Committee, and lived to be 96.  One of the first women instrumentalists signed to Blue Note, Bobbi Humphrey has played with many big names, including Lee Morgan, Stevie Wonder, and Duke Ellington. In 1994, Ms. Humphrey started her own record label, Paradise Sounds.We'll be spinning her on The Nightfly on March 9!  On March 2, 1955, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Rosa Parks did the same thing- nine months later. Colvin was inspired to act by her study of Black history and the U.S. Constitution. Thanks to the Zinn Education Project for introducing us to this civil rights pioneer. https://www.facebook.com/ZinnEducationProject  |
dj SanguineSanguine Fromage, WERU radio personality since 2005, current host of UpFront Soul, former host of The Nightfly, Off the Wall, Enjoy Yourself, and Sound Travels. Archives
June 2023
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