Celebrating Two Incredible Years

Each year, on the first weekend in March, Selma celebrates Jubilee Weekend. Thousands of visitors from across the country join the city’s residents to honor the anniversary of the Selma Marches – Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday and the Selma to Montgomery March – and the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Jubilee Weekend is an opportunity to honor the blood and bravery that led to the dismantling of racist voter discrimination practices, to celebrate the heroes of the movement and to renew our pledge to protect the rights of all Americans to participate in free and fair elections. Jubilee Weekend is also the anniversary of the founding of Foot Soldiers Park – and this year we celebrated in style!

Two years ago, on Jubilee Weekend, Foot Soldiers Park and Education Center was launched by a small band of activists and philanthropists. We believed that the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement were being forgotten – in Selma, developers threatened to bulldoze the historic landmarks of the Civil Rights Movement, the right to vote and to have each voice count was being stripped away through gerrymandering and antidemocratic voter suppression laws and the city of Selma, the epicenter of the voting rights movement, was steeped in poverty. We founded FSP to remedy this, and we could not have imagined how far we’d come in just two short years.

The majority of land needed for our park and education center has been purchased; we have built a stellar Board of Directors, filled with diverse and inspiring leaders; community programs are being developed and launched and leading national funders have recognized our vision, investing in our success. We celebrated these accomplishments at a series of events over the Jubilee Weekend. On the morning of March 4th, we hosted the Foot Soldiers Park Breakfast, welcoming foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement and inspirational new social justice leaders, including Judge Vernetta Perkins. This was followed by the FSP CommUNITY Fest, a day of remembrance, celebration and community building that brought Selma residents and Jubilee Weekend visitors together for joy-filled musical performances, games and speeches.

We also honored foot soldiers from 1965, including Mr. Richard Smiley, Mr. Albert Southall and, posthumously, Ms. Annie Cooper, as well as Dr. F.D. Reese, a member of the Courageous 8, who wrote the invitation inviting Dr. King to Selma in 1965. Dr. Reese passed in 2018 and the award was presented to his daughter, Valerie R. Harris, choir Director of the Historical Miles College Choir, which performed freedom songs at the event. Finally, FSP recognized the churches of the movement, past and present, including Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, Gospel Tabernacle Church of God in Christ and Ward Chapel AME Church.

As part of the celebrations, we were thrilled to unveil a mural by renowned artist, Cbabi Bayoc, on what will be the site of the Foot Soldiers Park campus! The mural depicts words and images relating to the quest for social justice and equality. We also revealed our new play facilities – brightly colored basketball court, hopscotch, four square and shuffleboard amenities – that will be enjoyed by neighborhood kids, including those enrolled in our new PlayPals program! This was a truly exciting moment for our young organization – the first concrete steps towards the realization of our Park and Education Center. The journey begins!

Finally, March 4th marked the inaugural public appearance of our Youth Advisory Board (YAB)! We are so proud to have these young social justice and voting rights activists – all of whom are under 18. The initiative was launched in 2022 with seed funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Read more about YAB here.