Student Briana Williams shares her experience of visiting Alabama with Marietta College at an event honoring the civil rights movement on Saturday in the college’s Alma McDonough Auditorium. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

MARIETTA — Marietta College kicked off a week of celebrations to honor the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement Saturday with a presentation by student leaders who visited historic civil rights sites in Montgomery, Alabama, and a virtual keynote speech from civil rights activist Lynda Blackmon Lowery.

The event in the Alma McDonough Auditorium began with Karen Walker providing a rendition of the iconic song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem. Student speakers Briana Williams and Will Linse then took the stage to provide historical context and personal reflections on the civil rights movement.

Williams, a student of Black and Dominican heritage, shared how her firsthand experience visiting Montgomery had a profound impact on her understanding of slavery and systemic racism in America.

“My school education only brushed the surface of slavery when explaining it for educational purposes,” she said. “The immersive environment (in Montgomery) opened my eyes and allowed me to not only see but feel the truth of my ancestors’ history.”

Linse, whose family history includes slave-owning ancestors, spoke about the importance of engaging with this difficult past.

Karen Walker sings a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” during an event honoring the civil rights movement on Saturday in the college’s Alma McDonough Auditorium. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

“My visits to Montgomery have allowed me to better understand the suffering that has occurred, and it has also given me the opportunity to take responsibility for my own actions and the influence I had over others, particularly my family,” he said.

Six student groups provided presentations on what they learned on the trip to Alabama, ranging from the slave trade in the 1600s to the modern day civil rights movement.

They began by sharing sobering statistics from the Legacy Museum, noting that nearly 13 million Africans were kidnapped and trafficked across the Atlantic between 1501 and 1867, with 2 million dying during the brutal Middle Passage, and continuing through the efforts to end segregation and onto the modern Black Lives Matter movement.

Keynote speaker Lynda Blackmon Lowery joined the presentation over a video call to share her firsthand experience of participating in the civil rights movement in the ’60s. At just 14 years old, Lowery was on the front lines of one of the most pivotal moments in the civil rights movement – the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.

Lowery began by recounting the circumstances that sparked her lifelong dedication to the civil rights cause.

Lynda Blackmon Lowery presents her speech titled “Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March” via video conference on Saturday in Marietta College’s Alma McDonough Auditorium. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

“My mother died from complications due to childbirth,” she said. “There was an all-white hospital here in south Alabama that had blood that could have possibly saved my mom’s life, but because they didn’t have … the blood she needed, had to be sent some 96 miles away from Birmingham, Alabama.”

Lowery said the hospital would not give the blood to a Black individual and her mother passed 15 minutes before the blood arrived from Birmingham.

As a teenager, Lowery became involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She described the intensive nonviolence training she and other young activists underwent, preparing them to face the violent backlash they would encounter on the streets of Selma.

Lowery vividly recounted the harrowing experiences of being arrested, jailed and brutalized by police during the protests. The turning point came on March 7, 1965, on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, when state troopers attacked the peaceful demonstrators, an event that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Lowery was among those beaten that day, receiving 35 stitches, but she refused to be deterred

“I can tell you, in all honesty, they did not break my spirit. I continue to stay on the battlefield, nonviolently, for equal justice,” she said.

She spoke of the camaraderie and mutual support that sustained the young marchers, even in the darkest moments, as they sang “We Shall Overcome” to lift each other’s spirits.

“That song, that night calmed my spirit,” she said. “And since then, to this day, whenever I am going through something, especially turmoil between my heart and mind and I can’t get it together, or see a way of getting it together, each time singing that song … it brings comfort to my spirit like it did that night.”

The college is offering a variety of volunteer opportunities throughout the week and a Spring Involvement Fair from 3-5 p.m. Friday in the Great Room of Andrews Hall, featuring campus organizations and community groups. Student groups, nonprofit and for-profit organizations will have the opportunity to showcase their work and recruit new members, volunteers or future interns and employees.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be observed today, with classes cancelled, along with the National Day of Racial Healing Tuesday, with classes in session.

Gwen Sour can be reached at gsour@newsandsentinel.com.