Civil rights icon, Amelia Boynton Robinson, still making a difference

By Deborah Goodwin

The Selma Times-Journal

TUSKEGEE &045; Six years shy of a century, she’s still working and still changing lives.

Civil Rights icon, Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson, celebrated her 96th birthday in Tuskegee on Aug. 18 at a celebration befitting a queen.

The celebration was held at Booker T. Washington High School.

Boynton was given a police escort from her home to her party where she received surprise after surprise.

There was one gift in particular that awed her.

Born in Savannah, Ga., Boyton met her husband, Samuel, at Tuskegee Institute. The couple moved to Selma in 1930. There they made their home and reared two sons.

Life was hard in the racially split south. Boynton and her husband could not sit back and watch racism and injustice continue oppress innocent people.

Both were victims of brutality, but were not deterred. After her husband’s death in 1963, Boynton carried on, fighting for civil right, human right, and the right to vote.

On March 7, 1965, known as Bloody Sunday, Boynton was knocked unconscious by a state trooper as she and other protesters attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to march to March to Montgomery.

After all of that struggling, one would think she would be ready to hang up her gloves and stop fighting, but she is still in the ring.

She’s not sitting in an office answering the phones. She’s mentoring the youth &045;around the world.

Boynton said the youth of today aren’t afraid to die and need &8220;a reason for living.&8221;

She said her main objective is to give them direction.

Boynton describes herself as fearless.

Coming from a large family, Boynton knows the love and closeness that comes from a family unit.

One might think being involved in the Civil Rights Movement would be her biggest accomplishment, but that’s not the case.

Boynton’s granddaughter, Carver, who resides in Selma, said there are no words to explain how she feels about

her grandmother.

Boynton said there is no comparison between her generation and this generation.

Boynton is focused on establishing that pride in the youth she mentors.

Boynton says she has done nothing in her life she regrets.

If not now, one might ask, when will Boynton stop working, stop being an activist?

Well, according to her, no time soon.