Barack Obama: Amelia Boynton Robinson a 'Dedicated And Courageous Leader'
By Aaron Morrison
August 26 2015 3:53 PM EDT
... “For most of her 104 years, Amelia committed herself to a simple, American principle: that everybody deserves the right to vote,” Obama said in a statement about the late activist who was one of many marchers beaten on a bridge in Selma in 1965, before passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act. “To honor the legacy of an American hero like Amelia Boynton requires only that we follow her example -- that all of us fight to protect everyone’s right to vote,” Obama said in the statement ...
In March, Boynton Robinson joined Obama and fellow Selma marcher U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia for the 50th anniversary commemorative march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Obama called it an “honor” to walk with the late activists and other foot soldiers of the civil rights movement.
“She was as strong, as hopeful, and as indomitable of spirit -- as quintessentially American -- as I’m sure she was that day 50 years ago,” Obama said in the statement. “And we offer our thoughts, our prayers, and our enduring gratitude to everyone who loved her” ...
“Often referred to as the matriarch of our country’s Civil Rights Movement, Mrs. Boynton Robinson worked tirelessly on the behalf of those who were discriminated against and disenfranchised, and she stood courageously in the fight to ensure voting rights for every citizen in this nation,” read a statement from the Congressional Black Caucus, which includes Lewis as a member ...
http://www.ibtimes.com/barack-obama-civil-rights-activist-amelia-boynton-robinson-was-dedicated-courageous-2070021
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