April 16, 2005 in White Sulfer Springs, WV
Bertha Dozier at the reception for the April opening of Gail Fitzgerald's documetary about her past
Photographer: Brian Long (Arlington Independent Media)
Gail Fitzerald (left); Bertha Holmes Dozier (right) speaking to audience at media showing on May 9, 2005
Photographer: Frank A. Davis
Bertha in Franklin, VA at a showing of the documentary at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in February 2006
On Friday, February 23, 2007, Bertha and I were invited to show Bertha's Story: Painful
Recollections to Rev. Joe J. Robinson (pastor), the members and
guests of Elbethel Baptist Church. I had a beautiful experience at
Elbethel and in Selma. The people I met treated me like we were old friends.
My experience was also like taking a spiritual "walk back in time" to our
struggle for our civil rights and our human rights. What made this
experience so meaningful is that Selma celebrates both heroes and
unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. Bertha was an unsung heroine long before the
official beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. The history of our struggle will
never die as long as we keep it alive like our brothers and sisters in Selma
have.
Bertha was not able to accompany me to Selma. Her 88 years are
beginning to catch up with her. Her one comment to me on my return to
Dale City was, "At least, I (Bertha's Story) beat Hillary to Selma." She was referring to
Hillary Clinton, who came to Selma the next week for the 2007 Bridge Crossing
Jubilee, celebrating the Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery
and "Bloody Sunday."
Photographer: Gail Fitzgerald
The entrance to Selma, just before crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Photographer: Gail Fitzgerald
Rev. Joe J. Peterson, pastor of the Elbethel
Baptist Church, where Gail Fitzgerald presented "Bertha's Story: Painful Recollections" on
Friday, February 23, 2007
Photographer: Gail Fitzgerald
in front of Elbethel Baptist
Church
Photographer: Gail Fitzgerald
Edmund Pettus Bridge. This is the bridge
that
the people marched across, going from Selma to Montgomery on that
"Bloody
Sunday" of the Voting Rights March.
Photographer: Gail Fitzgerald
Brown
Chapel
A.M.E. Church, where the people gathered and organized the Voting
Rights
March
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