**Reverend Lynn:** I have the honor this evening of introducing our
speaker. Our speaker is not only a- a man of the past, but he is a man
who continues the quest of freedom and justice. Our speaker this evening
is God's man, he is a minister. Our speaker this evening is a father,
and a husband. Our speaker this evening is a statesman. Our speaker this
evening is an educator. Our speaker this evening is a man who heard what
Amos heard and has called for justice to roll down and righteousness
like a mighty spirit. He is one who embodies the spirit of Galations 5:1
that since Christ has given us liberty that we would never ever be
entangled again in the jungle of pressure. Our speaker tonight is one,
when they said, "who will start the Dallas County Voters' League," and
said, "I will go." When they said, "who will lead the teachers?" He
said, "Send me. I will go." When they said, "they killed Jimberly
Jackson and we need to stand up and send a message to George Wallace and
to the nation and we must now march to Montgomery," and they said, "who
will lead us?" And Dr. Reese said, "Send me. I will go." We pray this
evening that you would open your hearts and minds, to hear from a man
who has not only fought the battle against Jim Crow, who not only fought
the battle against segregation and discrimination and disenfranchising,
but a man who is so forward thinking and so unsatisfied with the
accomplishments of the past that even today his congregation is
beginning to wage the battle against Jim Crack. We've heard the senator
speak about drugs in our communities. This man is organizing his
congregation to spread out across the entire city to address the despair
that our communities face today. So I ask that you would stand and
welcome, none other than the personal Dr. F.D. Reese, pastor of Ebenezer
Baptist Church.

**Frederick D. Reese:** Thank you, Reverend Lynn, to the pastor of this
very historic church, Reverend Morton. Reverend Hertz stands on.. sits
on the pulpit with us. To all of the sufferers of the gospel who might
be present with us and to all of the freedom fighters, fighters who are
here. I'm delighted to be here tonight to share in this fellowship. So
please uh.. excuse the prisoner reference, but the Lord has been
extremely good and merciful to me. Heaven brought me through 74 years of
life, 60 years as a born-again believer. 42 years as a pastor with.. the
last 39 years at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church. In 1965, beginning
my pastoral responsibilities the same day, March 21^st^, 1965, the start
of the successful voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery. And on
March 25^th^, 1965, we marched from St. Jude's camping ground in
Montgomery to the Capitol of Montgomery to hear Dr. King make that
speech that day. And as we left the grounds of St. Jude's, on the way to
the Capitol, I held a folder from which he made that speech on the steps
of the Capitol. And on the front lines of that march, on the way to the
Capitol in Montgomery, marched.. Jose Williams to my left, holding his
daughter. Mrs. Coretta King marched to my right. Dr. King to her right.
Dr. Ralph Munch to his right and Mrs. Abernathy. And then her husband
Rab Abernathy. John Lewis, the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ coming from
Georgia to his right. And A. Phillip Randolph who was the president of
the Porter's Union at that time. And then to his right marched, on the
front line, Mrs. Rosa Parks. The front line of that march moving down
Dexter Avenue in Montgomery, Alabama. 50,000 people, a sea of humanity,
moving toward the Capitol to hear Dr. King make that speech that day. As
I sat on the steps of that Capitol, looking out over that sea of
humanity, I had a feeling of great triumph and victory. After having
gone through all of the sacrifices, the indignities, the balance, it all
seemed worth it. For then we had made uh.. this march from Selma to
Montgomery and had pricked the conscience of congress and the
representatives then under the direction of the President of the United
States then, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, to sign into law the 1965
Voting Rights Act in August. All based on the beginning of what happened
right here in Selma, Alabama. \<applause\> And as I stand here today I'm
a living witness to the divine goodness and protection of God, the God I
served, the years and omnipotent God, the years in our mission of God,
He is an omnipresent God and trusting in God, He's able to make a way
out of no way. He is able to bring victory out of seemingly defeated
situations. As I recall the beginning of the struggle for equal rights
and opportunities in the area of voting, economic and social encounters,
I remember the initial mass meeting held here at Tabernacle Baptist
Church in support of Dr. L.L. Anderson and subsequently the mass
meetings held as SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,
was invited to hold nonviolent training sessions of which Mr. Marie
Foster made a whole lot in trying to introduce and train young people
for nonviolent methods. I recall the many arrests of young people and
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ around the effort to register to vote. The
sheriff and deputies took young people on forced marches and used
electrical charged cow prods to discourage their participation in the
nonviolent movement. People of voting age were encouraged to attempt
registration by standing in registration lines around the court house
from 9:00 AM in the morning to 12:00 noon, and then they had lunch break
from 12:00 to 2:00. And then from 2:00 to 4:00 they had another
opportunity for registration. And sometimes I would stand in that line
sometimes 500 or more people standing in line to get registered. The
whole day, sometimes about 20, might be able to get into the registrar's
office to go over the process of registration. And then out of that 20
none were registered. Jim Clark, the Bishop's sheriff of Dallas County
and his deputies, would create an atmosphere of fear and violence around
those standing in the line around the courthouse, registration place.
And many arrests were made during the period of time in 1964, and the
power structure was relentless and engaging in acts to stop the momentum
of the movement in July of 1964 \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ of the circuit
court here in Dallas County issued an injunction prohibiting any further
mass meetings to be held in churches here, nor could anyone stand on the
streets of Selma discussing the right to vote. If so, they would stand a
chance of being arrested. And this took place from July 1964 to December
of 1964. And the damper was placed on the movement and therefore there
were eight of us who then decided that we were going to continue meeting
in strategy sessions, and somehow or other, those eight of us that.. the
definition .. was coined The Courage Eight. And so it was that we
decided that in July of 1964 through December of 1964 that we were not
going to continue to allow the momentum of the movement of \-- to be
stalled, and therefore we decided in December of 1964 in Mrs. Amelia's
Bernson's house, in her dining room, to decide that we were not going to
any longer allow a piece of paper, the injunction, to keep us from
pursuing the right to vote. Therefore, in her dining room, on Lassiter
Street, I signed the official invitation inviting Dr. King and the
members of Southern Christian Leadership Conference to come to Selma to
further assist us in our quest for the right to vote. We decided then
that we would ask Dr. King to come to Selma and to be the guest speaker
at the Brown Chapel AME Church, the church wherein the first mass
meeting would be held that would break that injunction. We decided we
were going to jail. That we no longer let that piece of paper prohibit
us from pursuing the right to vote. January the 2^nd^, 1965 Brown Chapel
Church, we met and then law enforcement agency came around that church
and saw all of those people, they were inside of Brown Chapel and
standing on the outside and.. and I should imagine they wondered what
was going on. But then when they saw all of those people they realized
that there were too many of us for them to put in the jail downtown, the
local jail. And I said, too many folks for them to feed too, because we
had some big eaters in the crowd. So therefore, they came and saw those
people and they then decided that they were not going to arrest anyone
and the only they did was to direct traffic around the Brown Chapel AME
Church here. And therefore, we decided we were going to resume our mass
meetings in churches. No longer would that injunction then uh.. be in
effect. In fact, now we had proved that injunction nil and void. And so
we resumed our mass meeting.. rotating mass meetings to the various
churches in the city here. And then January the 22^nd^, 1965, then
president of the Selma City Teacher's Association here, I was a teacher,
a teacher in science and mathematics, and also president of Selma City
Teacher's Association we decided that teachers who had not before been
involved in the movement as such, now I said this: "The Lord had me in
the right place, the right time, with the right commitment, to be able
to influence teachers who represented the largest profession in Dallas
County to engage themselves in the movement." And so we decided in the
cafeteria at Cad Academy, which was then R.B. Hudson High School, the
decision was made to engage in a teacher's march for the first time. We
decided we were going to begin that march from Clark Elementary School
located on Lawrence Street here. So at 3:00 that day, I arrived at Clark
Elementary School and there was only one other car besides mine there.
But then when the teachers got out of class at 3:00, the cars started
rolling up on Clark Elementary School campus. And then they filled the
chapel on the second floor at Clark Elementary School. And when I looked
into that school building, and I saw my teacher, my first-grade teacher,
I saw my third-grade teacher sitting there and when I looked into their
fi.. their faces, they came to me and said, "boy," said, "now I can't
march down there to that courthouse today. But I came here to sit right
here 'til you get back here." \<applause\> That was one of the most
exhilarating moments for my teachers then were supporting the movement
at that time. And so we marched down from Clark Elementary School down
to the county courthouse here and when we got down, and we marched
double-file, teachers, more than 100 teachers marching down to the
county courthouse for the first time, the first group of teachers being
led down to the county courthouse for the right to vote in the United
States. And so we got to the county courthouse and across the door,
deputies of Dallas County, along with the Sheriff Jim Clark, a vicious
sheriff who was a symbol of resistance all over the south here, and he
stood there and indicated to us, and of course they had the
superintendent of education there to try to persuade me to turn around,
the chairman of the school board there, because, you know, he signed the
checks. And of course I indicated to the superintendent and to the
chairman of the school board that we had a right to go into the
courthouse ourselves and to see whether or not the Board of Registrar
was open so that teachers could have the right to register. And he said,
"I tell you, that the board is not in session." I said, "We have a right
to go and see for ourselves." And so we merely asked us, "get off of
those steps. We're making a mockery out of his courthouse." We indicated
to him that we had a right to be there and we were not going to deny..
be denied that right. So then he told the deputies who had their billy
clubs and he jabbed us down the steps of the courthouse on the Alabama
Street side. And my partner who was my tenth-grade biology teacher, who
was the incoming president of the Selma City Teacher's Association, Mr.
A.J. Durden, we marched together. And then we were jabbed down the steps
the first time. All the way down on the sidewalk. And he asked me a
question, because he was not quite used to what I was used to. He said,
"What we gone do?" I said, "We're going back." He said, "Hm?" And so
then we.. we regrouped and went back up the steps and Jim Clark gave us
another minute to get off those steps, and then.. at the expiration of a
minute, then he jabbed us down the steps the second time. And the same
question was asked to me by my tenth-grade biology teacher. And the same
answer was given to him. And the same response came. We went back up the
third time. Really what I was trying to do was to get those teachers
arrested because the teachers represented the largest black professional
group in Dallas County and I knew that if they were arrested, then that
would give the.. the movement the kind of momentum that it needed in
order to keep uh.. the movement going forward and to enlist other people
that were involved. And so we went up a third time. And he said, "I'll
give you a minute," but at.. before that minute expired, someone
standing on the inside of the courthouse pulled Jim Clark, the sheriff,
inside. I don't know what they told him but I can imagine they told him,
"for goodness sake, don't arrest those teachers." And so then, instead
of arresting us, he came back out the door and jabbed us down the steps
a third time. And I knew then he was not going to arrest us. So then we
regrouped and we marched from the county courthouse back to Brown Chapel
AME Church and received a hero's welcome from the parents and students
who had followed us all the way from the courthouse to Brown Chapel
Church. And then because of that teacher's march, there were many other
persons and organizations and groups that wanted to march. Even the
undertakers got together and they marched. Beauticians marched. Fellows
marched because then the teachers who had the kind of influence set the
pace for involvement into that movement. And so the movement continued
until in Marion, Alabama, which is about 35 miles from Selma here, where
the SCLC and some of the field workers down in Marion, Alabama engaged
in planning for a night march. And that night march was not far from the
courthouse nor from the church there. And for some reason the lights
were shot out around that church. And pandemonium to some extent broke
out and then Jimmy Lee Jackson, those of you who know your history, was
trying to protect his mother in the caf- the café not far from the
church. And he was shot by one of the state troopers. He was brought to
here to Selma and he died. And his death\-- the first martyr of the
voting rights movement. His death.. then sparked the idea.. why don't we
because the civil rights community was uh.. enraged over that death. So
why don't we take Jimmy Lee Jackson's body and dump it on the steps of
the Capitol in Montgomery to let the governor know that we have been
denied the right to vote and the quantity of life here in the south is
as its lowest end. And so that idea was taken back to SCLC and they
decided from the board meeting that they would pursue a march from Selma
to Montgomery. And the day was set for the beginning of that march on
March the 7^th^, 1965. And I can remember that day. But after I left the
church where I was pastoring in Summerville and came to Brown Chapel
Church at 3:00. Then.. we were told then that we had uh.. I don't know
what you might call them spies, but they knew that.. the state troopers
were across the bridge. Lined across the highway. And someone who met in
the pastors.. in the uh.. pastor's house next door to Brown Chapel and a
discussion was going on with the leaders of the civil rights uh..
groups. And someone suggested we would try to evade.. going to cross
that bridge and go down Highway 14 to Montgomery. But we said, "no." I
was against that, I said: "we have a right to march down Highway 80
across the bridge to Montgomery." And that same idea prevailed and so
then John Merce and Jose Williams was the elected to lead that march.
What I did on that day, knowing me, there was an ordinance in the city
of Selma which prohibited parading in a.. less than three feet apart.
Now I really didn't want the marchers to get arrested before they got
across the bridge. So I made sure that as the marchers left Brown Chapel
Church that they were at least three feet apart so the city officials
would not use that as an excuse to really arrest them before they got to
the bridge. And so when they got to that bridge, have you been across
the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ bridge yet in \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. I hope
you get across it before you leave here. But let me tell you what I saw
when I got to the apex of that bridge; I looked down on the other side,
I saw a sea of blue; blue helmets, blue state trooper uniforms, blue
state trooper cars parked parallel on the side of Highway 80. And I saw
the state troopers with their billy clubs and I saw them with their gas
masks and they were standing there and they had the leader of the state
troopers, whose name was uh.. Major Cloud and he gone.. and had a bull
horn and said, "now, we have orders from the Governor of the state of
Alabama not to allow this march to continue. We then ask that you would
uh.. disperse and go back to your homes or back to the church." And we'd
already decided we were not going to turn unless we were turned. And so
then he moved in. He gave orders for the state troopers to move in their
billy clubs, crushed on both ends. And they literally with force ran
down the line of those uh.. marchers and toppled the marchers over. If
you top of.. topple bowling pins in a bowling alley. They went through
and took the billy club in one hand, began to gee.. beat heads. I saw
blood flowing. Pandemonium broke out in the crowd and there was a state
of disbelief that this was happening in these United States of America.
Then they went through and then lobbed the gas canisters into the crowd.
If you've ever been in gas, you have to get out of the gas to try to
find some fresh air. And then those marchers went to the east side of
that uh.. highway, and about 20 minutes later they came from behind at
uh.. Master's Field there, and then came back to the highway and that..
the state troopers formed another parallel line and we had to walk
through that parallel line going back across the bridge on the way back
to Brown Chapel Church. Now the state troopers didn't inflict any
further punishment on us.. when we got back to the highway. But.. but at
the end of the state trooper line was the sheriff posse. These were men
who were deputized by the sheriff here in Dallas County and they were on
horseback, they had the long billy clubs.. billy sticks. And they were
on horseback. And as they uh.. pursued us back across the bridge,
beating heads and shoulders with the long sticks, pursuing us all the
way back across the bridge, back to Brown Chapel Church. Oh yes, I got
hit.. even on the head, shoulders, all the way back across the bridge.
And there were those that were injured on the highway. And they could
not find an ambulance any.. anyone to come in for about 15 or 20 minutes
in order to take them to the.. to the hospital. But then when we get
back to Brown Chapel Church in front of that church one fellow came to
me and his family was at Crawford Bridge, and he had uh.. he said,
"well, I just.. I know that you've been talking about nonviolence, but
all I got is this shotgun." And I told him, "for goodness' sake, go for
the shotgun back in the house." So then I persuaded him to do that
because I was particular.. at management, to those persons
participating, it was nonviolent. We had practiced nonviolence and
regardless of what happened across that bridge, it was still a
nonviolent movement. Therefore, he looked through and did as he was
told. And when I went to the church that day, there were those marchers
who had came.. had come back from across that bridge. I had prayer and
scripture and I had.. I attempted to give whatever words of comfort I
could. And as I looked into the marchers' eyes back in that church,
whose eyes I had looked into many days prior to that time as President
of the Dallas County Voters' League, I saw a question mark and that
question mark whether or not we should pursue the nonviolent methods
based on whether to cross that bridge. And so the telephone rang in the
pastor's study, while we were still in that church. It was Dr. King. He
was in Atlanta, Georgia. He called me, he said, "Mr. President.." when
he called me President, because I was President of the Selma City
Teachers' Association and now the Dallas County Voters' League, and
always at awe \[ph?\] talk about leading a movement. He said, "Mr.
President, I understand that you had a little trouble down in Selma."
He's being facetious. I said, "Dr. King, we've had a whole lot of
trouble like this." And he said, "I sent out a call of the nation for
those ministers and persons to come to Selma to assist the people of
Selma in that quest for the right to vote." And then while we were yet
in that sanctuary about 10:00 that night, a group had a charter plane
from New Jersey that had flown to Montgomery, Alabama, and then had
chartered a bus from Montgomery to Selma and walked in Brown Chapel
doors while we were still sitting there. And when they walked in and
said I.. "We have seen on the television screen today what happened
across that bridge. And we have heard the call of Dr. King and we are
here to lend our bodies and to lend our systems to the people of Selma."
One of the most exhilarating and powerful moments of that day, after
having gone through all of the.. violence and destruction. And so from
that particular day, Brown Chapel then was a sanctuary and people from
all over this country and all out of the country came to.. Selma became
an ecumenical gathering of all races, all nationalities, all religions
and they came to Selma and they were involved in.. marching. So then it
was decided after several things had happened, two weeks later we were
going to complete the march. After having the federal court give an
order that we had a right to march down Highway 80, at the hearings, and
therefore, on March the 21^st^ we decided we were going to then begin
the successful march of Selma to Montgomery. And then we left here
Sunday and we marched down through Dallas County, on through uh.. Lowns
County and to Montgomery County. And after leaving here Sunday we a- we
arrived in St. Jude's uh.. camping ground on Teu- on Wednesday. They had
a long flatbed truck there and we had entertainers from all over the
country there. We had Sammy Davis, Jr., Harry Bellafonte, Peter, Paul,
Mary and others who came there to entertain these marchers that we were
preparing to complete the march the next day, Thursday, all the way to
the Capitol. And so it was then on Thursday morning, we got up and began
that march at 10:00. I have given you the front lines of that march and
the persons on the front line. As we moved down Dexter Avenue in
Montgomery, 50,000 people going away to the Capitol and after getting to
the Capitol, sitting out, looking over that sea of humanity, then it was
a feeling of great triumphant and victory.

\<applause\>

**Frederick D. Reese:** And I know that now my time is up. But I recall
another incident in the Bible that's been referred here today. Joshua
and.. in our scripture, lessons found in Joshua. We see Joshua taking
over the leadership from Moses and Moses encouraged Joshua by saying in
Deuteronomy that.. very first chapter at the sixth verse, "be strong,
and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy
God \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ that go before Thee. He will not fail thee nor
forsake thee." Joshua in that chapter, the first verse, begins to speak
and the.. the information given, "now, after the death of Moses, the
servant of the Lord came to pass, that the Lord said unto Joshua, 'son
of none, Moses' minister, said, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore
rise, go over to Jordan down and all those people unto the lands which I
do give to them, even to the children of Israel.'" Ya'll can remember
that in order to get to Jericho.. they had one more river to cross. They
had the cross, the overflowing intermittent waters of the Jordan. Joshua
could hear the assurance of the Lord saying, "I'm going to be with you
as I was with Moses. Be not afraid." Joshua also knew that the city of
Jericho had a forti.. fortified city. And the walls were high, the walls
were wide. They were so wide that the armed soldiers could ride around
the city of the walls uh.. in their chariots. And Joshua sent two spies
out, told tell them to view the land of Jericho. They went and came into
the harlot\'s House. You remember the story of Rahab and they lodged
there, they told the King of Jericho that the spies were there to search
out the land. And he sent for them. You know the story. Rahab put them
on the House top, covered with them flax. And Rahab told the spies that
they.. that, "we have learned what God did for you all over the Red Sea.
And two.. the two kings of Amarites, said, "will you pledge to save me
and my household when you come to take the city?" They agreed uh.. to
honor her request. And the children of Israel prepared uh.. to begin
marching to the Jordan River. You see, when you put your trust in God,
and not yourself, God can make seemingly impossible things happen in
your life. When you are obedient to God's command and walk by faith,
mountains can be climbed and rivers can be crossed. Yes, have you ever
had any rivers in your life that seemed so uncrossable? Have you had any
mountains you couldn't funnel through? God's specializes in things so
impossible that He would do what no other power can do. If I was at
church, I\'d ask if I have any witnesses here now.

\<crowd applauds\>

**Frederick D. Reese:** When you trust God and work according to His
will, all that might seem like He is not doing a thing about answering
your prayer, but while you are wondering, God could be working over in
the end of this town. Getting ready so you can conquer them and for a
few to be victorious. They pulled down their tents and
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ God promised a miracle. When the feet of the
priest touched the waters of the Jordan, they came to the overflowing
Jordan river, Joshua called that god would be with him as he was with
Moses. He was a stand still... and seen the salvation of the Lord. See,
when you have praised as fervently as you can pray, when you have gone
as far as you can go, when you've done all that you can do, then leave
everything in the hands of the Lord.

\<applause\>

**Frederick D. Reese:** You see, because the victory is not yours. It is
the Lord's. The priest\'s feet marched, touched the waters of the Jordan
River. From above the Jordan stopped flowing into the Jordan again, and
the water stood as a well, and the walls on each side of the Jordan
again, and children of Israel crossed over the Jordan on dry ground.
After three days, Joshua rose early in the morning and they removed from
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ came to Jordan, and he had all the children of
Israel and lodged them before they passed over. And then before they get
over, they also came to uh.. Joshua and asked Captain Joshua.. said,
"Captain Joshua, what is your tactical attack on Jericho? What is the
strategy of your assault? What is the status of your.. of you\'re gonna
go over the wall Captain? We have only crude, these crude spears and
swords and other primitive weapons, Captain Joshua.. are these
sufficient as we go now to uh.. conquer Jericho." And they.. Joshua told
them, said, "Wait a minute. I had a talk with the Lord the other day.
The only thing that we're gonna do, we're gonna just march and we get
down around the wall and we're gonna win the battle, other men with
horses and guns, he knows how to win a battle. Now, Jericho was greatly
secured and called the Israelites. None went out and none came in. The
Lord said unto Joshua, "I'll give you into this.. this hand uh.. this
land, Jericho." And it came there was in the mighty into this...this
land, Jericho. And you shall compare \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ all ye men
of war and go around about the city once. Then \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ I do
it six days. And on the seventh day, I shall march around the walls of
Jericho seven times, and the walls will fall flat. They.. they got ready
to begin to march and the priest.. Well they even ran home and they
were.. they were.. all taliking they began to march around the walls of
the Jericho. No guns. Only thing they had was God on their side. They
began to march.. they marched around one time. Great God Almighty!

\<crowd cheers\>

**Frederick D. Reese:** The walls stood strong and high. They marched
around the second time. The walls still stood strong. They marched
around a third time. They kept on marching and they kept on praying and
wasn't nobody saying anything. God was busy.. answering their prayers.
Sometimes you can say a whole lot and still have prayed. Then you can
say nothing. But you can pray a good prayer. But God only answers the
prayers that come from the heart. In god almighty. They marched around
the walls uh.. the fourth time. The walls are still standing strong.
They marched around a fifth time. The walls are still wide and strong.
They marched around a sixth time. I- I believe somebody said nine times.
Went around the wall six times and the walls are still standing strong
and.. but then somebody reminded them, but you know what they told you
to do? He told you to march seven times. And then on the seventh time,
the seventh day.. "I want you to march around seven times in that
seventh day." Is God all right? Won't God make a way anyhow? Again, they
marched around the walls. The first time.. on that seventh day. The
walls are still standing. Marched around a second, third and fourth and
fifth and sixth times. on the seventh.. but then the seventh time..
Great God Almighty..

\<crowd cheers\>

**Frederick D. Reese:** ..something began to happen. I heard some walls
start rumbling. Earth began to get eased, and the walls began to shake.
There was a rumbling in Jericho. And when the walls began to shake,
bricks began to fall and the walls fell. Is God All Right?

\<crowd responds\>

**Frederick D. Reese:** He knows.. How to bring the walls down flat. Is
God All Right? As I close now, I wish I was at Ebenezer right now,
'cause I have never \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, that God is all right. That's
you just trust god. He may not come when you want him, but when he comes
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.

\<crowd gets louder\>

**Frederick D. Reese:** Say God Almighty. But when you start on your
journey.. I remember when they left here in Selma.. great god almighty,
I'm gonna close this thing out now.. but you know I.. was left here in
Selma. I remember about some seven things. The first time uh.. we left
here, we're on that uh.. that Bloody Sunday, that was.. that was day
number one. And then day number two was when they had to turn around.
And then uh.. then we had day number three. Going on the way to
Montgomery. Day number four, on the way to Montgomery. Day number five
on the way to Montgomery. Day number six, we start walking all the way
to Montgomery. But then on the seventh day.. Great God Almighty.. we
start from uh.. St. Jude's Camping Ground, it went all the way to the
Capitol. On that seventh day.. Is God All right? And on that seventh
day, Dr. King stood there on the.. that uh, stand and he got\-- and
began to speak to the people there in uh.. in Montgomery on those steps.
Is God All right? He told them uh.. how we had come through and what we
had to do and how God brought us all the way from Selma, Alabama to
Montgomery, Alabama. If you pray to the Lord, God will.. I say, God
will.. He will.. I said god will!!

\<crowd erupts\>

**Frederick D. Reese:** He may not come when you want Him. But when He
comes He's right on time. We been due for the night. God.. God.. God
comin\'

\<crowd slowly dies down\>

**Reverend Lynn:** What a message tonight. That's our story. Dr. Reese..
In the presence of this congregation I want to take this privilege to
personally thank you for your courage.. for your leadership.. for
standing up for me before I had an opportunity to even crawl. Thank you
for paving the way. Thank you for standing in the trenches for me and
for the people of this nation. For what you did in Selma, Alabama has
made it better for every single one of us. God bless you, God keep you
and I thank you personally.

\<applause\>

**Reverend Lynn:** This time, I'm going to ask that Sam Walker from the
Voting Rights' Museum will come now. Also, Mrs. Fire \[ph?\] Rose
Tereen. She comes at this particular time.

**Sam Walker:** This church is too quiet. That.. that message was too
powerful. I.. I just knew the walls were going to break out and sing.
God of our weary years, God is our silent years, thou who went gone for
us all the way. Every time I hear Reverend Reese, my soul looks back in
wonder how we got over.. it just amazes.. three weeks ago we didn't even
have money for this year, to show you how powerful God is. And Selma
asked "Rose, how we gone do it? People are expecting us to do this
whether we have money or not." And we said, "Well, we at least could
have our mass meeting." We said, "We ain't got no money to draw nobody
in." And I said, "We don't need it. One of the greatest history makers
in the civil rights movement.." you have just heard. Let's give him
another hand.

\<applause\>

**Sam Walker:** You know it\'s east to overlook people that you live
with every day. Before we introduce our awardees, it's very important
that we bring our youth into what we're doing so they can hear our
stories. So every day we have contests like the essay contest, but every
year we have a loyal member of Reverend Reese's church to step forward
and she never asks for a dime. And we wanted to.. the young people are
not here and there's all kinds of things going on in Selma. There's the
honors night at the high school. And there's a wonderful play that's
being presented by Selma High School at the School of Discovery about
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. If you've ever heard angels sing, you know how the
Selma High School kids can sing. It is their musical play, "My Son, My
Son." We encourage everybody we can to leave here and go to the school
of Discovery. But before I bring \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ I'll tell you
briefly about some of the magnificent things that are going on this
weekend. We didn't do it. I don't know how they got done, but I think
they're getting done. Tonight, as I said, Congressman Waters is on her
way here now. Again, a sister, we called and told her we didn't have no
money and she said, "don't worry about it. I'm on my way." She will be
speaking at the School of Discovery tomorrow. So our young people, I
urge you, join the children, go to the college, go to.. go to the school
and hear her. Frederick Douglass' great-great grandson will be here and
his wife doing a very powerful play about Frederick Douglass' wife, Jane
Sample, powerful young woman from uh.. somewhere up in the north, will
be here. And this is awesome. I was in New York this weekend at the
funeral of a very beautiful memorial service for Tom
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ and his exhibit at the Slavery Museum. And I went
to see this monument to people who died in the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
holocaust. You know, 40 million of us died and now ya'll do know that.
40 million Africans, during the enslavement period, died from disease,
murder or suicide because of the suffering. There's a monument to their
suffering in the front of the Federal courthouse in New York. The person
who designed and built that monument will be here tomorrow. He will be
here this weekend. Go out to the School of Discovery to see him. At 2:00
in the old SNIC Building, and it's right across from the city jail, hope
you could come to speak to those young people, but if not.. they\'ve
heard you tonight. They will be there at 2:00 to see how the hip-hop
generation can join in with our generation to move this country forward.
And it's important that we understand there is really no divisions or no
gaps unless we allow them to be made. I encourage you to go to the old
SNIC Buildilng. At 7:00, now this is going to be the treat, at 7:00, you
know, we always do a mock trial. This year we are trying, and we wanted
to try Reverend Reese, I hope he still can make it, we're trying J.L.
Chestnut and Anne Bland.. Anne Bland was on the bridge that day too, for
killing Jim Crow. The title of the trial is "Who Killed Jim Crow." And
uh.. so one side will be all with the Jim Crow's not dead, I think I saw
attorney England in the audience. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ prosecution
Ms. Engle? Okay, she will be prosecuting Mr. Chestnut for killing Jim
Crow. Of course uh.. we have Dr. Hollow who will be there as an expert
witness saying that Jim Crow is dead. But Congressman Waters will be the
expert witness that is clearly saying Jim Crow is alive and well. So
we.. that trial is very significant. It's 7:00, it's free of charge,
it's on a first-come-first basis at the Dallas County Courthouse. So
please try to make that. When you get up in the morning, we have a
tremendous parade. And in the parade, Mother Foster, you heard Reverend
Reese call your name. This has been a really hard year. Losing mother
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ has been very, very hard. But the.. but the movement
and the board of directors of the museum lost 3 boys. Mother Foster was
the first to go. Then Dr. Gonzalez, a Spellman teacher who always would
bring her class to the march across that bridge with us. She died just
last month. And just this week, we lost Chester Brown. One of the
dearest young men that you won't meet that constantly stayed in the
movement. It's still in Selma. This Saturday we will stop the whole
jubilee at 11:00 to give honor to Chester. After the parade, we have all
the stages. But tomorrow night, we have a lot of hip-hop people. Now I
don't know them. They have.. they didn't have the Manhattans and the
Temptations and so I don't know. But the young people would know them.
Tomorrow night I encourage everybody to come to the School at Discovery
at 7:00. We are honoring couples in the struggle, and the Freedom Flame
award sponsored by 21^st^ Century and the Museum. And we want to up
uplift marriages. A lot of the young.. of our young people get
discouraged \'cause you look at those divorce rates and how terrible
marriage is. Well, we want you to know that there are couples in the
struggle who have been married to each other and the struggle. And we
will be honoring. Dr. Lowry, Mrs. Lowry, who I think have been married
60 years uh.. and who have been in the struggle probably as.. as long as
60 years. And of course Mrs. Lowry will be erecting a monument to John
Lewis at the foot of the bridge on Sunday. And we will take the march
across the bridge and we will not stop. This is the 50^th^ anniversary
of the Brown Decision. And my brothers and sisters, I want you to know
that we are still very separate and very unequal. Most of the white
people in the audience tonight, I would venture to say are not from
Selma. Am I right or wrong? We are still very separate and very unequal.
So we will be taking a fifty\-- we will again be going to Montgomery. It
is a slow ride to Montgomery. We'll leave here at 9:00 and go to the
Federal courthouse. We're going to have a press conference to announce
our plans to eliminate tracking and inequality of public education that
has caused in many respects for Selma to lose five people in one month
to murder. The poverty rate here is almost thir- no, the unemployment
rate here is almost 30 percent higher. So we want to take that slow ride
and we want to have at least 50 cars and Senator Sanders have been
working very hard to make sure that we make that statement. And I see
one of our teachers and principals who are trying hard from Clark
\[ph?\]\-- to get rid of these inequalities. But it's going to take a
national movement, just like it did in the '60s. Because if it had not
been that massive movement, I think Reverend Reese will agree with me,
that lawfully we couldn't have done alone. That's why they sent for Dr.
King and it was not by accident that the year 2000, when Selma tried to
get its first black mayor, after 37 years of having the same mayor,
Geronimo Pratt came to town and saw where two cars had been fired
bombed. He sent out the word. People came from all over the country so
that we could have our first African mayor. So welcome our guests, but
we also challenge the people who live in Selma that we must keep on
moving. And now I want to ask Mrs. Johnson to come, and present the
young people who have had the courage and insight and the creativity to
use that creativity to talk about Dr. King and the movement and Reverend
Reese and the Courageous Eight through their own expressions. Let's give
Mrs. Johnson, 'cause her and her husband are one of the..

\#### End of Tape A14 \####