By Blake Deshazo

The Selma Times-Journal

Amelia Boynton Robinson lived through the Civil Rights Movement and played a key role in getting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Last Thursday, Robinson watched the historic events she witnessed first-hand 50 years ago come to life on the silver screen during a private viewing of “Selma” the movie at her Tuskegee home.

“Everyone in that room that we watched the film with felt that sense of history being made,” said Lateefah Muhammad, a Tuskegee attorney who helped organize the screening. “We knew that it would be a great honor for (Robinson) to see that film, and to have those around her who shared that experience was an honor as well.”

Oprah Winfrey, who starred in the film and co-produced it, invited Robinson to a private screening in Los Angeles, but due to her health and age, she could not attend.

With help from Leon Frazier, a Tuskegee organizer, Muhammad said they were able to show Robinson the film before it made its debut in theaters.

“To make that happen was the ultimate goal for us because she was not able to travel to California to be there with the other icons,” Muhammad said. “To have her see it before the world sees it was the thing that we wanted to see happen, and she is truly grateful.”

Muhammad said Robinson, the “Matriarch of the Voting Rights Movement,” enjoyed seeing historical moments like the march from Selma to Montgomery portrayed by actors in the film.

“She was surprised at first because of the movie being made to portray and show much of the history that she lived,” Muhammad said. “To get an opportunity to have it shown in her home with her friends and family was truly a great opportunity.”

Muhammad said she watched Robinson throughout the film, as she compared her own memories to the movie.

“There were moments when she was intense, and you could tell that she was looking to see what was transpiring that resembled what she knew actually happened,” Muhammad said. “But she was just bubbling over with happiness that it was able to happen.”

Paul Garnes, the film’s producer, was in attendance as well as four members of the cast that played extras in scenes of the march.

“Selma” opens in select theaters Christmas Day and across on the country Jan. 9.