- Riverside Church, NYC 01/21/2019 by Jessica Brockington (WBAI News)

In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Riverside Church in NYC held performances over the weekend of “Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom.” It tells the story of Lynda Blackmon Lowery, and groups of children who left school three times a day over the course of several years to silently walk through Selma, Alabama to protest practices that prevented Blacks from voting.

Blackmon was jailed nine times before the age of 15, and during a peaceful march that became infamously known as Bloody Sunday, she was brutally beaten. Images of peaceful Black protesters being attacked by White Alabama state troopers launched a nationwide movement that culminated in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Five months later President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which was to abolish any local laws that stopped Blacks from voting.

Lynda Blackmon Lowery was in the audience for a performance of "Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom."  She spoke afterwards with the cast members, and Pastor Amy Butler of Riverside Church. Please click the arrow above for our report.