Mosaic

The Strength of Ordinary People: A Conversation With Jo Ann Bland

As a child, Jo Ann Bland participated in the Selma, Alabama, march that became known as Bloody Sunday. In this video and Q&A excerpt, Bland inspires us to civic action.
Photography by Sydney A. Foster

As a child, Jo Ann Bland participated in the Selma, Alabama, march that became known as Bloody Sunday. In this excerpt from her 2024 interview with Learning for Justice, Bland inspires us to civic action during this crucial election.


 

The Movement

Well, one day we were on Broad Street – that’s the street the bridge is on – and about two blocks from the bridge, there’s this drugstore, Carter’s drugstore. When I was a kid, Carter’s had a lunch counter, and I wanted to sit at the lunch counter, but my grandmother said I couldn’t. She said, “Colored children” – that’s what we were called then – “can’t sit at the counter.” 

It didn’t stop me from wanting to sit at that counter. Every time I pass by, I see those white kids sitting there, spinning around on those stools, licking those ice cream cones, and I’d be wishing it was me. 

But this day, my grandmother noticed, and she leaned over my shoulder, and she pointed through the window toward the counter. She said, “When we get our freedom, you could do that too.”

I became a freedom fighter that day. I understood instantly that the freedom that Grandma and her friends were going for was the good freedom, the one that would let me sit at that counter.

I started going down to First Baptist with my sister and training with SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Remembering Bloody Sunday

I had never experienced violence, and I wasn’t expecting violence when I got into the line. I just thought it was a regular march. We’re going to march to Montgomery. … 

I was 11 years old in 1965 on that bridge. March 7th, 1965, to be exact. That day went down in history as Bloody Sunday. … When it started, I was terrified, horrified to see people laying bleeding. And then the tear gas got me, so I panicked, and we were trying to get back across the bridge.

The last thing that I remember on that bridge that day was seeing this horse and this lady. And I don’t know what happened. Did the man on the horse hit her, or did he run over her with the horse? But even today, 59 years later, I could still hear the sound her head made when it hit that pavement. 

The next thing I remember, I was on the city side of the bridge. I was in the back of a car, and my head was in my sister Linda’s lap, and Linda was crying. And when I became fully awake, I realized what was falling on my face were not her tears; it was my sister’s blood. She had been beaten on this bridge – 14 years old, beaten on this bridge and had wounds in her head that required 35 stitches. … And some people were even hurt worse. Bones were broken because people were being trampled. It was horrible.

For every major tragedy in the United States, they sent in counselors, psychologists, and therapists and stuff. Nobody came to help us. Nobody even thought to come and help us. Life just went on. So, you internalized it, and it became a part of you that just stayed there, it wouldn’t go away, but you didn’t talk about it.

History for Action Today

[People should] know how hard fought to get the vote was. And people died. People died for us to have the rights we have today, beaten and killed. Yet some people stopped using it. … [I try] to show them the value of their vote. If it was not valuable, why are people always trying to take it away from you? 

This [cement area] is where we left from on what is now known as Bloody Sunday. We assembled right there. And I followed John Lewis and Hosea Williams, Albert Turner and Charles Mauldin right out through there across that cement to the bridge to be beaten by law enforcement officers. And I think it’s important because when we tear down, rename, remove, new history begins, and old history is forgotten. This history is too important to the fabric of this nation to be forgotten.

So, everyone that came to Selma, I took to that cement and made them pick up a rock. … I say that’s a way to connect them, something tangible in their hand. … If they take it, they need to put it where they can see it every day. Because when you see injustice committed against anyone in the whole rainbow of humanity, and you feel like you can’t do anything, go pick up that rock and take the strength of the ordinary people who stood on that same rock and made history that not only changed the South but this entire nation.

And it went from just saving that cement to a full park because … when I was growing up, the whole playground was covered with toys. Now they have one little piece. … So I said, “We need to put a park here, a real park with a real playground.” And then it became Foot Soldiers Park.

Now we also needed a place where we could store these oral histories. … The importance of that I didn’t know would be like it is today. I never thought … that one day this would happen – they would start to censor our history and rewrite it. So out of that came the educational building … [a place that] will teach the next generation of children where we’ve been as a nation, and then they can take it from there.

[People should] know how hard fought to get the vote was. And people died. People died for us to have the rights we have today, beaten and killed. Yet some people stopped using it. … [I try] to show them the value of their vote. If it was not valuable, why are people always trying to take it away from you? 

The election coming up is a critical election for not only Alabama, but America. So, we have to get the vote out.

Reflection and Action

Young Black woman with sign saying "Your Vote Matters", a group of volunteers in the background.
  1. Learn more and become involved in civic and political action in your community. LFJ’s Civics for Democracy series includes learning resources and action steps. Explore Our Votes Matter: Action Steps in Planning to Vote, Media Literacy Is Vital During the Election Process, and Understanding Voter Suppression in Today's Election Process.
  2. Jo Ann Bland discusses unlocking your strength by picking up a rock that others stood on to make history. Think about local and national leaders and heroes that you would follow “onto the bridge.” What about them inspires you?
  3. Talk to youth in your community. Work together to organize community conversations to hear about their experiences and issues that are important for them. Engaging in dialogue allows young people to feel heard and can inspire action. Dialogue sessions can also use the Action Planning Guide to help young people realize their power through action. 

 


Interviews by Crystal Keels, Ph.D. (she/her), LFJ’s analyst for learning content, and Jacob Saylor (he/him), SPLC’s senior video producer.

 

Historical images from the Civil Rights Movement and current movement

Learning from the Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement is a story of people who believed they could bring about change. The learning journeys and resources in this series can help us learn from our history and examine today’s justice issues to answer the questions: “How can I make a difference?” “How can we make a difference together?”

Learn more