Memories From Alabama
© 2019 Liberty Goodwin
The recent passing of Amelia Boynton Robinson at the age of 104 has triggered special memories for me. When I stumbled into Selma, Alabama two decades after the famous march from there to Montgomery by Civil Rights pioneers and icons, an amazing and inspiring connection sprang forth ‘tween me and them.
I had heard about the upcoming 20 th Anniversary March while passing through Atlanta, GA as part of an 18-month pilgrimage as a seminary student, wanting to learn more about the psychology of violence. I arrived in Selma the night before the three-day commemorative journey, and folks in the organizing group at a church there sent me out into the night to stand at the curb waiting for a host for the night to appear. A friendly black lady pulled up and asked if I needed a place to stay, then brought me to her home.
It turned out that this was Betty Boynton, wife of Bruce Boynton, the son of Amelia. And I learned fairly soon that the latter was regarded in Selma as the Mother of the Civil Rights movement. I’ve felt ever since that it is a shame that most people have never heard of this important lady. I myself felt a bond and huge respect for her as I marched and heard reports of her huge contribution to the movement.
I was especially stunned to learn that the simple living room in which I slept that pre-march night was the place where the SCLC held its first meetings, where the work for equal rights all began. And, consider my feelings to know that, 20 years earlier, it had been Martin Luther King himself who slept on that same couch where I was accommodated on my own journey!
I felt and still feel a sense of both their spirits – spurred by the funny coincidence of my overnight stay location, and by listening to stories from folks on the anniversary march who had made the earlier journey. I am fully convinced that Amelia and Martin have now had a joyful reunion on the “other side”, are reminiscing about the wonderful work they did and the progress made (though certainly not completed). I am thankful to them both for the inspiration they gave so many – which still lives today.
(NOTE: Liberty Goodwin is a Quaker writer, editor & activist in the process of completing a book called “Homesick for Harmony”, a collection of her own and other experiences in the quest to overcome the “Us vs. Them” barriers between residents of Planet Earth).
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