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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E229-E230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF BETTIE MAE FIKES
______
HON. TERRI A. SEWELL
of alabama
in the house of representatives
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the
extraordinary life of Ms. Bettie Mae Fikes, the ''Voice of Selma.''
At the age of 16, Ms. Fikes was one of the singers of the Civil
Rights Movement and a member of the Students Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC), which was the only national civil rights organization
led by young people during the Movement. Ms. Fikes bravely led marches
with songs, registered voters, boycotted buses, sat in at lunch-
counters and led walkouts at R.B. Hudson High School to support the
desegregation of the school.
From an early age, Ms. Fikes began singing with her parents, both of
whom were from families of gospel singers and preachers. Ms. Fikes was
exposed to classic hymns and songs and was encouraged to use her voice
to sing with her parents. At the tender age of four, Ms. Fikes had her
first big performance: her first church solo. With that success, she
began to travel throughout the country with her parents' groups, the SB
Gospel Singers and the Pilgrim Four. However, when Ms. Fikes's mother
passed away when she was 10 years old, she moved around from Michigan,
California, and finally to Selma, Alabama.
Ms. Fikes continued to be involved in singing in the church when she
moved to Selma. She used every opportunity she could to let her voice
be heard. It is no surprise, given her background that she proved to be
an emerging music leader when she joined SNCC at age 16. The more she
became involved with SNCC, the more it became apparent that she would
go to jail.
The foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement prepared themselves
for the eventuality that they would be arrested. If an officer
announced that they were under arrest, they knew to fall to their knees
and to force the officers to carry them to the bus. However, when the
time came, Ms. Fikes and her friend Evelyn Manns realized the police
were using cattle prods on the young men and women. Hoping to avoid
this pain, both women stood up and loaded the bus to go to jail.
Ms. Fikes bounced between the county and city jail, Camp Selma and
Camp Camden. She was brought before Judge Reynolds where she was
repeatedly asked who organized the march. Judge Reynolds and others
hoped that the students would implicate Martin Luther King, Jr. in
hopes of building a case against Dr. King for contributing to the
delinquency of minors. Instead, Ms. Fikes loudly declared: ``Jesus lead
me, and my mama feed me.'' This frustrated the judge and led to Ms.
Fikes being jailed for nearly three weeks.
Instead of being defeated, Ms. Fikes used this time to organize other
young people who were also sent to jail.
``I had been there so long I felt like a trustee there,'' she once
said. With this new Trustee status and the assistance of Reverend F.D.
Reese of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Selma, Ms. Fikes was
able to help others.
Ms. Fikes also bore witness to Bloody Sunday. That morning Ms. Fikes
was a messenger, carrying messages from Brown Chapel AME to the head of
the line at the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She described the
experience later, saying, ''You know how it feels just before a storm--
there was nobody walking on the streets . . . it was such a stillness
that you can't explain.''
As tensions rose, Ms. Fikes continued delivering messages back and
forth, when, finally, a half block from the church, she heard the
rumbling of Bloody Sunday: ``Out of this stillness, this earthquake
[sound], the ground it just shifted . . . and when I looked up . . .
people were running everywhere.'' Despite the hate and the violence,
Ms. Fikes saw the true spirit of the foot soldiers of Selma.
After her time in Selma, Ms. Fikes went on to become a very
successful singer who has
[[Page E230]]
graced the stages of Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress, as well
as the 2004 Democratic National Convention where she was introduced by
Maya Angelou. She has had the opportunity to perform with Joe Turner,
Lightnin' Hopkins, Albert King, James Brown, Bob Dylan, and Mavis
Staples, among others. She continues to travel throughout the United
States and Canada to speak about diversity and civil rights, because
although we have come a long way, there is always work to be done to
advance justice and equality.
On a personal note, I grew up in Selma hearing the voice of Bettie
Mae Fikes. Her beautiful voice was the soundtrack of the historic march
from Selma to Montgomery. I am so grateful that she faithfully returns
on the pilgrimage to Selma each year with Congressman John Lewis and
the Faith and Politics Institute to commemorate Bloody Sunday. Her
beautiful music continues to move us all as we rededicate ourselves to
the ideals of equality and justice for all. I know that I would not be
Alabama's first black Congresswoman today had it not been for the
bravery and sacrifice of freedom fighters like Bettie Mae Fikes.
Madam Speaker, on behalf of the 7th Congressional District and the
State of Alabama, I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the
activism and lasting contributions of Ms. Bettie Mae Fikes. Through
song, her melodious voice was an inspiration for the Civil Rights
Movement that changed a nation. Her work as an educator, her incredible
voice and her story will be remembered in Alabama for many years to
come.
____________________
