Black History Month: Activist Recalls 'Bloody Sunday' March In 1965
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Lynda Blackmon Lowery was just 14 years old when she marched for voting rights in her hometown of Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965, also known as "Bloody Sunday."
"I heard the 'pop! pop!' of the guns, felt something burning my mouth, my eyes," she told WCBS 880's Jane Tillman Irving. "I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see."
A white deputy grabbed her.
"I bit the hand and I heard the N-word, and I felt him hit me twice," Lowery said. "I managed to roll and get up, and he kept running behind me hitting me as I ran into a cloud of tear gas."
Lowery has written a book about her experiences called "Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom."
This is the first installment of WCBS 880's Black History Month series. Check back at CBSNewYork.com every weekday in February for more.