Activism
Ladies in Red: “Make a Difference! Register and Vote!”
More than 120 Ladies In Red from Oakland, Stockton, Sacramento, Manteca, Fairfield, American Canyon, Berkeley, Richmond, Vallejo, Hayward, El Cerrito, Roseville, Texas, Arizona and New York toured some Alabama Civil Rights landmarks to retrace the steps of the Civil Rights activists who had marched, died, sacrificed and had been jailed to achieve the right to vote for African Americans.
The trip took place August 8-13, and included stops in Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. Brenda Knight, the trip organizer and founder of the Ladies In Red, said that after the recent elections in Georgia and Florida the women’s group found that little has changed. “We are still fighting and marching for our rights to register and vote 54 years later,” she said.
Knight said that the group, which ranges in age from 40 to 85, was “so inspired” after visiting the Voting Rights Museum, the Selma Interpretive Center, and Brown Chapel AME Church before they marched on Selma’s historical Pettus Bridge. Later, the group visited the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Dr. M.L.King, Jr. served as the pastor; and Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, which was pastored by Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. There, the Ladies In Red left an offering of $2,400.
At the upcoming Ladies In Red 24th Annual Luncheon on Feb. 1, 2020, the group hopes to register as many voters as they can. “We will utilize the tour’s education to become our agenda and marching orders to register young people and those who just refuse to vote,” said Knight.
Knight said her group would provide regular updates to the Post Newspapers because Publisher Paul Cobb was one of the original marchers on Pettus Bridge in Selma along with Dr. King and John Lewis in 1965.
