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Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, Historic Tabernacle Legacy Foundation, Inc., and Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, and Reconciliation celebrated the 61st anniversary of the first mass meeting on May 14.

A press conference was held at Historic Tabernacle Baptist. Verdell Lett-Dawson, Chairman of the Historic Tabernacle Baptist Legacy Foundation, served as Mistress of Ceremony.

The first mass meeting was organized by. Amelia Boynton and Bernard LaFayette, Jr upon the nvitatiom of Tabernacle pastor, Dr. Louis Lloyd Anderson. The meeting was a combined memorial service for decades-long voting rights advocate Samuel Boynton and the first mass meeting.

Former State Sen. Hank Sanders delivered remarks, recalling when he and his wife, Rose Sanders, arrived from New York in 1963.

“I saw the challenges people were dealing with,” Sanders said. “They were beaten by the KKK and law enforcement.”

Several surviving foot soldiers George James, Doris Tate-Cox, Gwen Carrington, Kirk Carrington, Roosevelt Goldsby and Chatmon Bates Smith attended the event and shared their memories.

“I wanted my family, friends and teachers to get the right to vote,” Kirk Carrington said. 

“I marched because I didn’t want older people to get hurt,” Smith said. “I gave kids information for their families.”

Spelman College freshman Azali Fortier delivered the welcome, speaking on behalf of her aunt, Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth & Reconciliation executive director Anika Sanders-Jackson. 

“A change is needed and necessary,” Fortier said. “It is important to use your voice and vote.  We need to vote.”

Dr. Otis D. Culliver, Historic Tabernacle Baptist pastor, delivered a call to action and urged local residents to vote.

“It’s a privilege to be in a room with so many change makers,” Culliver said. “Let’s rekindle the spirit of 1963. Black churches have always been the center of voting.”

Councilwoman Jannie Thomas, whose Tabernacle Church is in her Ward 7 District, said she’s glad to see the church continue the fight to vote.