If I could have tea with anyone today, it would be Civil Rights activist Amelia Boynton. The 103-year-old icon helped Martin Luther King Jr. plan the Selma to Montgomery March on Bloody Sunday 50 years ago.
I would pour her a cup of Endurance tea. She organized voter registration drives in the 1930s through the 1950s and beaten into unconsciousness by state troopers during the March.
I would ask how did she keep going in the face of so much racial hatred? Boynton was also of the first African-American woman to run for Congress on the Democratic ticket from the state of Alabama. While she did not win, she did carry 10% of the vote.
And the next year she helped organize the march. In 1990, she received the Martin Luther King Jr. medal of freedom. On Aug. 6, 1965, she was the guest of honor when President Johnson signed the 1965 voting rights act.
As we sip our tea, I'd ask why did she continue to be active in the movement. Is she happy with the direction we are going in now? In a recent interview Boynton had this advice for those following her: For those standing on my shoulders get the hell off my shoulders and get to work! "
Enough said. No more tea. Headed to Selma to participate in the re-enactment of the walk across the Pettus Bridge.
I would pour her a cup of Endurance tea. She organized voter registration drives in the 1930s through the 1950s and beaten into unconsciousness by state troopers during the March.
I would ask how did she keep going in the face of so much racial hatred? Boynton was also of the first African-American woman to run for Congress on the Democratic ticket from the state of Alabama. While she did not win, she did carry 10% of the vote.
And the next year she helped organize the march. In 1990, she received the Martin Luther King Jr. medal of freedom. On Aug. 6, 1965, she was the guest of honor when President Johnson signed the 1965 voting rights act.
As we sip our tea, I'd ask why did she continue to be active in the movement. Is she happy with the direction we are going in now? In a recent interview Boynton had this advice for those following her: For those standing on my shoulders get the hell off my shoulders and get to work! "
Enough said. No more tea. Headed to Selma to participate in the re-enactment of the walk across the Pettus Bridge.
