By Terri Sewell
Sewell is the representative for Alabama’s seventh congressional district.

I was delighted that House of Representatives passed my legislation to name the Selma Post Office after Voting Rights Activist Amelia Boynton Robinson.  Mrs. Boynton Robinson was known as the matriarch of the voting rights movement.

Her life and legacy epitomized strength, resilience, perseverance and courage — the same characteristics that embody the City of Selma where she made such a significant impact.

Amelia Boynton Robinson is also well-known for braving the front line of the Selma march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge where she was brutally attacked on Bloody Sunday.

A warrior for what was right and a brave soldier in the fight, Amelia Boynton Robinson was a champion in the movement that lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

A trailblazer, Amelia Boynton Robinson also made history in 1964 as the first black woman to run for Congress from the State of Alabama.

I know the journey I now take as Alabama’s first black Congresswoman was only made possible because of her courage, tenacity and faith.

As a daughter of Selma, I am honored to sponsor this legislation, and I can think of no more deserving person to name the Selma post office after than Amelia Boynton Robinson.

She truly represents the heart, spirit and essence of Selma.

Again, I was incredibly pleased to see my legislation pass the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support, as well as the support of the entire Alabama Congressional delegation.

I now look forward to the passage of the bill through the Senate so that President Obama can sign the bill into law.

Amelia Boynton Robinson put herself and her family’s lives at risk and this is a long overdue honor and I am in support of naming the post office after her.

Boynton Robinson was a voting rights pioneer and a leader in the American Voting Rights Movement. Boynton Robinson was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Freedom in 1990 and lived to meet the first African American President Barack Obama at the State of the Union Address in 2015 and to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge with him during the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday.