City prepares to honor civil rights icon
Published 8:51 pm Thursday, August 21, 2014
A portion of Lapsley Street will be renamed in honor of Amelia Boyton-Robinson during a ceremony Saturday at R.B. Hudson Middle School. Boyton-Robinson celebrated her 103rd birthday Monday.
Saturday marks the end of a long process to honor a local civil rights legend.
The City of Selma will have a street renaming ceremony Saturday at 4 p.m. to honor civil rights activist Amelia Boynton. The ceremony will begin in the R.B. Hudson Middle School Cafeteria.
Ward 7 councilwoman Bennie Ruth Crenshaw said it’s an honor to be able to recognize Boynton for her efforts before and during the civil rights era.
“I’ve always held her in high esteem in terms of what she did for mankind,” Crenshaw said. “She is truly a humanitarian and I’m so very happy to know her.”
Crenshaw said the program would include singing and reflection on the life of Boynton.
Boynton turned 103 on Monday. Her civil rights activism began long before Bloody Sunday. She initially started with her mother, taking a horse and buggy through towns in Georgia to register voters in 1920.
She co-founded the Dallas County Voters League in 1933 and, with the help of her husband Sam Boynton, held multiple voter registration drives. Following Sam’s death in 1963, she remained active in voting rights, welcoming groups of congressmen and activists to her home.
The change, approved in July, renames Lapsley Street from J.L. Chestnut Boulevard to First Avenue. Part of the approved deal also includes a memorial to local civil rights leaders on an unused city lot on the corner of First Avenue and Lapsley Street.
Crenshaw said she is beginning to work on plaques and items that could be a part of the memorial. She said it would be ideal to finish the memorial in time for the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday next March.
“We’ve talked about getting some type of fountain and landscaping,” she said. “I would want to include the youth from R.B. Hudson High School and that whole area over there. I want to tell as much of that neighborhood’s history as possible.”
She said input from area residents would be a part of what’s included in the memorial.
A renaming of Lapsley in honor of Boynton first surfaced in the early 2000s, but was revitalized by Crenshaw in March. In initial 2014 discussions, Crenshaw wanted to rename Lapsley in its entirety, but compromised after several meetings.
