Amelia Boynton, a civil rights activist who held Black voters registration drives in Selma, Alabama, asked the foremost leader of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to come to Selma and help secure voting rights for African Americans. Dr. King accepted, and the SCLC established their headquarters in Boynton’s home. They planned a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, March 7, 1965. Six hundred protestors showed up for the event. On Edmund Pettus Bridge, peaceful marchers were beaten with batons and tear gassed by police. Seventeen protesters were sent to the hospital, including Boynton. A newspaper photo of Boynton lying bloody and beaten unconscious, drew national attention. The event became known as Bloody Sunday. It prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson, with Dr. King looking on, to sign the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965, which prohibited racial discrimination in voting. Boynton was the guest of honor.

In 1990, Amelia Boynton was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Freedom. Her contributions to the civil rights movement were dramatized in the 2014 Oscar-nominated film Selma.”

In 1990, Amelia Boynton was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Freedom. Her contributions to the civil rights movement were dramatized in the 2014 Oscar-nominated film Selma.

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