T is for TRIP to Selma

Over 90 6th and 7th graders from KIPP Liberation College Prep School in Houston 

arrived at Brown Chapel AME Church on Tuesday afternoon as the first stop

 in the Southern Civil Rights tour. Joyce O'Neal and Dianne Harris,

 both student foot soldiers, shared their experiences and songs of the movement.

 The students' TRIP was delayed by the intense flooding in Houston.

Thanks to guest photographer Christine Weerts!

Linking to ABC Wednesday where this week's letter is T

Signs, Signs (MLK Jr. Historic Walking Tour)

February is Black History Month, and Selma participates

 by offering school field trips to local Civil Rights sites 

that include Brown Chapel AME Church.

   During the 1960s and beyond, ministers and churches

 played pivotal roles for social and political change.

Linking to Signs, Signs and City Daily Photo Blogs

C is for Civil Rights Freedom Wall

As spring arrives along with Civil Rights celebrations, many tourists

 will visit Brown Chapel AME Church where The Civil Rights Freedom Wall

 stands out front, along with a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. 

Linking to ABC Wednesday where the Letter of the Week is "C" 

 and City Daily Photo Blogs

Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

The United States gets a holiday Monday for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

The civil rights leader, who was assassinated in Memphis in 1968, was invited to Selma

 in the 1960s to aid the voting rights movement for black Americans.

 He eventually led the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March in 1965 

that was protected by the National Guard.

A federal holiday honoring his birthday on the third Monday in January

 was signed into law in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.

 You can read more about King HERE.

This bust of King is in front of Brown Chapel AME Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Street. 

Linking to Shadow Shot Sunday and City Daily Photo Blogs

Jubilee Rally

Controversial civil rights leader Jesse Jackson leaves the Bridge Crossing Jubilee rally at Brown Chapel AME Church on Sunday afternoon.

Photograph by Christine Weerts

Brown Chapel Circa 1908

Brown Chapel AME Church is best known as the headquarters of the Voting Rights Movement in Selma. This 1908 Romanesque structure became the starting point of the March 7, 1965 (Bloody Sunday) march across the Pettus Bridge and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march two weeks later. It is also the site where numerous mass meetings were held. The church is a focal point this weekend during the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee.

The Circle of Life

The jungle comes alive in "The Circle of Life" butterfly sculpture in front of Brown Chapel AME Church. Painted by artist Nate Brown along with fifth graders and Knox and Payne Elementary schools,tigers and panthers, parrots and butterflies share a lush landscape. Oh...and I believe this butterfly is looking right at you! To see closeups of this butterfly, click HERE.

Brown Chapel Campaign

Despite tough economic times, fundraising must go on!

This campaign is for preservation of Brown Chapel AME Church, a national historic landmark because of its role in the Civil Rights Movement. Marchers met here in mass meetings during the 1960s, and the church served as the starting point for a number of marches, including the Selma-to-Montgomery March.

Brown Chapel in Pasta

Here's historic Brown Chapel AME Church "in pasta." The art is another masterpiece of Selma's Vernon Spicer, who also produced the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
This weekend is the 15th annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, and Brown Chapel, a 1908 Romanesque structure with twin towers, played a big part in the Voting Rights Movement of the 1960s.