Delegation Honors Selma Voting Rights Martyr Rev. James Reeb
From the West Alabama Newsroom– A delegation from St. Olaf College in Minnesota were in Selma to honor one of their own.
The group placed a wreath at the monument to civil rights martyr — and St. Olaf alumnus — Rev. James Reeb.
Reeb died after he was attacked and beaten in Selma for his participation in the voting rights movement.
The Unitarian Universalist minister was one of the people who answered Dr. King’s call for clergymen to come to Selma and join the movement after Bloody Sunday.
“Reeb’s death underscored the impact that Bloody Sunday had already had on the nation. For Reeb to die, a white man killed on behalf of civil rights made, tipped the balance. The Johnson administration committed itself totally to passing the Voting Rights Act,”said Selma historian Alston Fitts.
The monument is located in front of the Old depot Museum. It was erected in 1998.
Reeb graduated from St. Olaf College in 1950.
