Black History Month: Activist Speaks On Power Of Youth During Civil Rights Movement
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- By her 15th birthday on March 22, 1965, Lynda Blackmon Lowery had been arrested nine times for demonstrating so that black adults like those in her family in Selma, Alabama could vote.
"I turned 15 on the second day of the march and that made me the youngest person that we know of to walk from Selma to Montgomery," she told WCBS 880's Jane Tillman Irving.
Black History Month: Activist Speaks On Power Of Youth During Civil Rights Movement
But leading up to the big march, there were countless, daily, highly organized small marches by high schools students and even younger kids.
"Our parents were going to be fired from their jobs," Lowery said.
Or beaten or jailed or even killed if they tried to take a stand, so many of their children proved young people can make a big difference.
Lowery is the author of a book called "Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom," chronicling her experiences growing up during the civil rights movement.
This is the second installment of WCBS 880's Black History Month series. Check back at CBSNewYork.com every weekday in February for more.
