[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 37 (Thursday, February 28, 2019)]
[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.

                          ____________________