At 15, Lynda Blackmon Lowery was the youngest of 300 marchers to follow Dr. King from Selma to Montgomery on March 9, 1965.

Two days before, on Bloody Sunday, Lowery was teargassed and beaten by an Alabama State Trooper at the end of Edmund Pettus Bridge, receiving seven stitches over her right eye and 28 stitches over the back of her head.

On Wednesday, February 20, she shared her story with Miss Green’s second  grade class at Payne Elementary School as part of Black History Month.

Since the publishing of Lowery’s memoir, “Turning 15 on The Road to Freedom”, was released in 2015, she’s spoken to schools all over the country about her experience as a young Civil Rights activist.

“It’s a humbling experience,” said Lowery, “At the time I was just doing what I had to do. To know that my story inspires both young and old is just humbling.”

The student’s of Green’s class raced to shower Lowery with hugs after answering questions from the class.

At 13, Lowery became involved in the movement after hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak, saying, “You can get anybody to do anything with steady, loving confrontation.”

Before she had reached 15, Lowery had been put in jail nine times.

“You’re looking at a proud and happy jailbird,” said Lowery to the classroom of second graders. “Why? Because I didn’t go to jail for taking anything from anyone. I didn’t go to jail for hurting anyone. I went to jail for what I believed in.”

What belief did a 14-year-old have that she’d go to jail so many times for?

When Lowery was seven-years-old, her mother died after doctors at an all-white hospital refused to give her proper treatment. After that, she vowed that no one would grow up without a mother because of the color of their skin.

While Lowery has spoken all over the country, this is her first time speaking to schools in the Selma area. She continues to encourage young people to speak up and do the right thing.

“If you don’t use your voice you lose your voice,” she said, “I let children know that when they see something they think is wrong, there’s someone else who sees the same thing. That’s how you confront the wrong things. With steady, loving confrontation.”