Amelia Boynton Robinson committed her life to civil and voting rights activism and played a crucial role in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. She helped found the Dallas County Voters League in 1933 and worked to register voters in the area for decades with little progress. Robinson became the first African American woman in Alabama to run for the U.S. Congress in 1964. Working alongside Martin Luther King Jr., Robinson helped organize and lead the Selma march.  Images of Robinson and the other marchers being beaten by state troopers on “Bloody Sunday” brought increased attention to the civil rights struggle in Alabama and prompted President Lyndon Johnson to call for immediate passage of the Voting Rights Act.

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