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Civil rights icon Bettie Mae Fikes returns to speak to students
Bettie Mae Fikes, a civil rights icon who has been referred to as "The Voice of Selma," recently returned to the Robbinsdale Area Schools to
Bettie Mae Fikes, a civil rights icon who has been referred to as “The Voice of Selma,” recently returned to the Robbinsdale Area Schools to speak to students.
Fikes got involved in the civil rights movement while she was a high school student in Selma, Ala. She became a student leader for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at age 16, and was jailed for several weeks for protesting during the voting rights struggle in Selma in 1963. Bettie began singing with the SNCC Freedom Singers, and her passion and commitment garnered her the Long Walk to Freedom Award, as well as a letter from then-California Gov. Gray Davis acknowledging her role in the civil rights movement.
Fikes first visited the district last year. She returned Feb. 24 to share her experiences with around 250 students at Armstrong High School.
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“It started out as a civil rights struggle, but it became a human rights struggle,” Fikes told the Armstrong students. “We knew what we were fighting 50 years ago. We were fighting for the right of interstate transportation. A lot of people died for that. We fought for the right to go into a restaurant, and just be able to order a meal. We fought for that. People died for the right just to register to vote.”
Integration and Equity Program Director Marcellus Davis said he hoped that students would get an intimate account of “a freedom fighter who has helped put together mass change for America through the civil rights movement.”
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“I hope that students realize that the work is not done, and that they have a role to continue working for civil rights, for human rights, for all Americans in this country today,” Davis said.
After visiting Armstrong on Tuesday, Fikes spent parts of Wednesday at Plymouth Middle School and at a Pan-African Family Night celebration at Meadow Lake Elementary. She will be at Robbinsdale Middle School from 8-11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, and at Cooper High School from 6-8 p.m. for a Black History Month Celebration. She will spend all of Friday, Feb. 27, at the West Metro Education Program.