Joanne Bland BLACKMON, Selma, ALABAMA - the Black Book :projects

George Edward FREENEY Jr. · 2023-01-17T20:58:51-06:00

Joanne Bland BLACKMON has been both a witness and a participant in some of our nation's most consequential civil rights battles. In 1961, she attended a freedom and voters' rights meeting presided over by Martin Luther King Jr. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee members active in Selma organized local teenagers to participate in the movement, including marching on "Bloody Sunday" and "Turn Around Tuesday". On "Bloody Sunday", March 7, 1965, Bland witnessed fellow activists being beaten by the police and Alabama State Troopers. By the time she was 11 years old, Bland had been arrested and documented 13 times. Bland's first time being arrested was when she was eight years old at the beginning of her activism. During the march while Bland witnessed people being beaten, they could not get away from police as they moved in from the sides, back, and front.Bland's sister, Lynda Blackmon Lowery, was the youngest person that participated in the march, she was 14 years old at that time. Lowery saw people putting Bland in the back of a white car and she thought her sister was dead, but when she got to the car, she soon realized that Bland just fainted. When Bland woke up, she could feel her sister's blood dripping on her face from being hit on the head many times.Bland helped protect white Northerners who chose to participant in the march, they included ministers and college students. On March 21, 1965, she marched from Selma to Montgomery and that same year in August the Voting Rights Act was signed. Bland was one of seven black students who integrated A. G. Parish High School in ALABAMA.In-Progress

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Joanne Bland BLACKMON, Selma, ALABAMA

Posted by George Edward FREENEY Jr. on January 17, 2023 at 8:58 pm
Joanne Bland BLACKMON has been both a witness and a participant in some of our nation’s most consequential civil rights battles. In 1961, she attended a freedom and voters’ rights meeting presided over by Martin Luther King Jr. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee members active in Selma organized local teenagers to participate in the movement, including marching on “Bloody Sunday” and “Turn Around Tuesday”. On “Bloody Sunday”, March 7, 1965, Bland witnessed fellow activists being beaten by the police and Alabama State Troopers.

By the time she was 11 years old, Bland had been arrested and documented 13 times. Bland’s first time being arrested was when she was eight years old at the beginning of her activism. During the march while Bland witnessed people being beaten, they could not get away from police as they moved in from the sides, back, and front.

Bland’s sister, Lynda Blackmon Lowery, was the youngest person that participated in the march, she was 14 years old at that time. Lowery saw people putting Bland in the back of a white car and she thought her sister was dead, but when she got to the car, she soon realized that Bland just fainted. When Bland woke up, she could feel her sister’s blood dripping on her face from being hit on the head many times.

Bland helped protect white Northerners who chose to participant in the march, they included ministers and college students. On March 21, 1965, she marched from Selma to Montgomery and that same year in August the Voting Rights Act was signed. Bland was one of seven black students who integrated A. G. Parish High School in ALABAMA.

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