She marched on behalf of the right to vote and was there in 1965 for a turning point in the civil rights movement when peaceful marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers.
City Councilwoman Mary McBride-Lee, a city faith leader and educator, is sharing her story in a book “At The Foot Of The Edmund Pettus Bridge On Bloody Sunday.”
McBride-Lee grew up in Selma, Alabama when blacks were a majority but had no voting voice.
On March 7, 1965 McBride-Lee marched for voting rights joining thousands of peaceful protesters who suffered a violent crackdown by the Alabama State Police. A national television audience gasped at the brutal beatings of civilians–nightsticks, whips, tear gas, many troopers on horseback–transforming public opinion about a federal law to ban disenfranchisement of Black voters.
“Not only did I put my life in jeopardy, but my whole family, but it was worth every moment,” McBride-Lee would say on the 50th anniversary of the event in 2015.
On Saturday May 27, McBride-Lee will share her recollections during a book signing at the Ruby & Calvin Fletcher African American History Museum, 952 East Broadway in Stratford.
