page_title: Frederick D. Reese
section_title: Selma to Montgomery marches
hierarchical_section_title: Frederick D. Reese / Selma Voting Rights Movement / Selma to Montgomery marches
caption_attribution_description: English: SELMA TO MONTGOMERY MARCH - the last day as the Marchers leave St. Jude's and March to the Alabama State Capitol.
context_page_description: Frederick Douglas Reese, also known as F. D. Reese, was an American civil rights activist, educator and minister from Selma, Alabama. Known as a member of Selma's "Courageous Eight", Reese was the president of the Dallas County Voters League when it invited the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King Jr. to Selma to amplify the city's local voting rights campaign. This campaign eventually gave birth to the Selma to Montgomery marches, which later led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
  Reese was also president of the Selma Teachers Association, and in January 1965 he mobilized Selma's teachers to march as a group for their right to vote.
  Reese retired from teaching and from February 2015 and until his death in April 2018, he was active as a minister at Selma's Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church.
context_section_description: During the time the SCLC spent organizing and protesting in Selma, Reese coordinated meetings and often played the role of mediator when differences of opinion arose.
  In photographs from the Selma to Montgomery marches, Reese is pictured in a dark suit, coat, and hat, most often in the front of the march with Martin Luther King, Jr. and some of his closest associates.
  Reese has been credited as the leader whose persistent and continual efforts lead to the Voting Rights Act.  He has earned the title of Mr. Voting Rights. His self-sacrifice and dedication to nonviolence, created the climate of welcoming others to link arm in arm in a movement that changed the United States of America.   In the words of U. S. Congressman John Lewis, “I first met the Rev. Reese in 1963 on my first trip to Selma when I became the chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was one of the leaders of the local movement and became more of a leader during the whole effort to gain the [right to] vote in Selma. He was highly respected, and he welcomed us into Selma in our efforts to help the local movement.”  
  “The Rev. Reese’s involvement made it possible. He helped create the climate for the Voting Rights Act,” Lewis said. “People all over America and many people around the world knew him because he stood out as this nice, upright man. He didn’t make a lot of noise. He just did what he felt was his calling. He was consistent and persistent.”
caption: Reese in hat and coat, marching from Selma to Montgomery, behind and to the right of children
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