Celebration Services Saturday, the Fifth of September Two Thousand and Fifteen
Eleven O’clock in the Morning Tabernacle Baptist Church 1451 Broad Street Selma, Alabama 36701
Sunday, the Sixth of September Two Thousand and Fifteen
One thirty in the Afternoon Tuskegee University Chapel 1200 West Montgomery Road Tuskegee Institute, Alabama 36088
Tuesday, the Eigth of September Two Thousand and Fifteen
One O’clock in the Afternoon Edmund Pettus Bridge Selma, Alabama
Order of Worship Saturday, the Fifth of September Two Thousand and Fifteen Eleven O’clock in the Morning Tabernacle Baptist Church 1451 Broad Street Selma, Alabama
Officiant: The Honorable Hank Sanders Music......................................................................................................... Movement Songs led by Foot Soldiers Prelude............................................................................................................................Selma High School Choir Processional.............................................................................................................................The Boynton Family Call to Worship...................................................................................................... The Honorable Hank Sanders Invocation.................................................................................................................................Rev. Leodis Strong, Brown Chapel AME Church Selma , AL Scripture Old Testament ………Psalm 23......................................................................................... Rev. Frederick Hardy First Baptist Church Selma, AL New Testament………John 15: 1-6, v: 27.......................................................................Rev. Otis Dion Culiver Tabernacle Baptist Church Selma, AL Selection…………………………… “Going Home” .................... Ms. Kennetta-Renee’ Robertson, Mentee Director, SCLC/W.O.M.E.N., Incorporated, Atlanta, Georgia Chair-Elect, The Amelia Boynton Robinson Foundation (Two minutes, please) Reflection.....................................................................................................................The Honorable John Lewis, Congressman, District 5 Reflection...............................................................................................................The Honorable Andrew Young Former US Ambassador to the U.N. Reflection......................................................................................................................................Dr. Robert White Professor and Historian Alabama State University
Order of Worship Selection..........................................................................................................................Selma High School Choir Reflection.................................................................................................................... The Honorable Terri Sewell Congresswoman, District 7 Reflection....................................................................................................................... Judge Marvin W. Wiggins 4th Judicial Circuit of Alabama, Dallas County Reflection...............................................................................................................................Shawn Eckles, Friend Reflection........................................................................................................................ Aleasha Watson-Mitchell Great-grandniece Reflection......................................................................................................Alicia Irby, Student at Miles College Black Lives Matter activist Reflection............................................................................................................................................ Mr. Joe Jones Foot Soldier Special Tribute..............................“Portrait of a Heroine”.............................................Ms. Sharon Platts Seay Daughter Musical Tribute......................................“Precious Lord”..................................Rev. Justice Royal, Grand niece Eulogy......................................................................................................................Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. Founding Member, SNCC Chairman, SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) Selection..........................................................................................................................Selma High School Choir Special Poem.................................. “The Guy in the Glass”................. Ms. Germain Platts Bowser, Daughter Selection..........................................................................................................................Selma High School Choir Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................Tabernacle Baptist Church Resolutions..............................................................................................................The Honorable George Evans Mayor, Selma, AL Special Video Presentation....................“The Charge”........................... Dr. Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson Recessional........................................................................................................................................... I’ll Fly Away
Order of Worship Sunday, the Sixth of September Two Thousand and Fifteen One thirty in the Afternoon Tuskegee University Chapel Tuskegee Institute, Alabama
Dr. Elaine C. Harrington, Officiating National Chair, Nominating Committee for the Presidential Medal of Freedom for Amelia Boynton Robinson Tuskegee Institute, Alabama Prelude .............................................................................................. Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir Dr. Wayne A. Barr, Director of Choral Activities Processional...........................................................................................................The Boynton Robinson Family Call to Worship................................................................................................... Rev. Harold H. Lusk, Sr., Pastor Greenwood Missionary Baptist Church Tuskegee Institute, Alabama The Holy Scriptures Old Testament............................................Psalm 23............................................................Minister Sarah Head Tuskegee Institute, Alabama New Testament....................................John 15:1-6, 27................................................Rev. Otis Head, President Macon County Ministers’ Council Tuskegee Institute, Alabama Prayer of Comfort ................................................................................................... Rev. Dr. Gregory S. Gray, Sr. Dean of the Chapel, Tuskegee University Opening Song........................................“Going Home”........................................................... Mr. Glenn Person Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir Family Reflections.................................................................................... Attorney Bruce Carver Boynton, Son Selma, Alabama Musical Tribute.......................................“Medley of Songs”............ Ms. Kennetta-Renee’ Robertson, Mentee Director, SCLC/W.O.M.E.N., Incorporated, Atlanta, Georgia Chair-Elect, The Amelia Boynton Robinson Foundation Official Tribute.......................................................................................................... The Honorable Johnny Ford Mayor, City of Tuskegee Musical Tribute..........“Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John”.......... Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir Youth Tribute............................................................................................................. Tuskegee Youth Safe Haven Tuskegee Institute, Alabama Musical Tribute.....................“This Little Light of Mine”............................................................. Angelic Voices Greenwood Missionary Baptist Church Tuskegee Institute, Alabama
Order of Worship Reflections............................................................................................................. The Honorable Terri A. Sewell Congresswoman, Alabama District 7 Musical Tribute...........................“He’ll Say,’ Well Done”................ Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir Reflections...........................................................................................................................Attorney Fred D. Gray Former Boynton Robinson Attorney Tuskegee, Alabama Musical Tribute.............................“Love Lifted Me”...................... Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir Resolution.............................................................................................................Dr. Brian L. Johnson, President Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama Reflections........................................................................................ Dr. Robert White, Professor and Historian Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama Musical Tribute................“Just A Closer Walk with Thee”.......... Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir Special Tributes......................................................................... Mrs. Barbara Jones, Illustrious Commandress, Daughters of Isis, Tuskegee, Alabama Dr. Paulette C. Walker, National President Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated Washington, D.C. Musical Tribute...........................“If I Can Help Somebody”......................................... Mrs. Rose Washington Union Springs, Alabama Eulogy......................................................................................................................Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. Founding Member, SNCC Chairman, SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) Musical Tribute...............................“Every Praise”......................... Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir Personal Tributes (Two Minutes please).............................................................................................The Family Ms. Carver Ann Boynton, Granddaughter, Gasden, AL Mr. Murray Threadgill, Nephew, Laguna Hill, CA Mrs. Germaine A. Platts, Daughter, Philadelphia, PA Mrs. Sharon A. Platts Seay, Daughter, Selma, AL Ms. Robin A. Smith, Grandniece, Washington, DC Mr. Gill Winters, Grandnephew, Takoma Park, MD Miss Aleasha Watson-Mitchell,Great-grandniece, Phil.PA Musical Tribute...........................“The Lord’s Prayer”........................................Rev. Justice Royal, Grandniece Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Closing Tribute..............................................Last Stanza “Thanatopsis” William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) Attorney Lateefah Muhammad, Friend and Co-chair, Nominating Committee for the Presidential Medal of Freedom for Amelia Boynton Robinson...............................................Tuskegee Institute, Alabama Recessional.............................................. “I’ll Fly Away”................ Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir
Dr. Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson
AMELIA ISADORA PLATTS was born August 18, 1911 in the port city of Savannah, Georgia, to the Late George and Anna Hicks Platts. She was the seventh of ten children. Their father was a building contractor and their mother was a dressmaker, realtor and civil rights activist, who was the elected the first secretary of the Colored Chamber of Commerce in 1924 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She traced her history on both sides to a mixture of African, Cherokee tribe of Native Americans and German and other European blood. Amelia was the last of her ten siblings; however, she has many nieces and nephews who reside in various cities around the country, with significant numbers of them in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where her parents and some of her siblings resided until their deaths. She was a 1927 graduate of Tuskegee Institute under the leadership of Dr. Robert Russa Moton, its second president. At her death, Amelia was the second oldest living graduate of Tuskegee University. In 1976, after living and working in various areas, including Selma, Alabama and Americus, Georgia, where she was a high school teacher, Mrs. Robinson returned to reside in the city of her alma mater with her third husband, Mr. James Robinson of Oklahoma. An account of the life of this remarkable woman is given in the book, Bridge Across Jordan, highlighting Mrs. Robinson’s life-long struggle for civil and human rights for all colors. It has been published and translated in five languages. Several significant reviews are given in Bridge Across Jordan. One is by the late Mrs. Coretta Scott King, who wrote: “In Bridge Across Jordan, Amelia Boynton Robinson has crafted an inspiring, eloquent memoir of her more than five decades on the front lines of the struggle for racial equality and social justice.
This work is an important contribution to the history of the Black freedom struggle, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone who cares about human rights in America.” Former United States Ambassador Andrew Young cites, “Amelia Boynton Robinson came to visit us in Atlanta, and invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to come to Selma. At that time, Selma was almost under as many restrictions as South Africa. It was against the law for more than four people to meet in a public place, and no more than three people could walk down the street together for any purpose. In joining Dr. King to help free Selma, Amelia Boynton helped to develop the pattern that led to a worldwide human rights movement, and the victories in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, Southern Africa and China all bear the influence of the Selma Movement.” Amelia Boynton Robinson is perhaps best reflected in American history as one of two women, the other being Mrs. Marie Foster, behind the six men at the front of the march, who were gassed, beaten unconscious and left to die on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma during the “Bloody Sunday” incident on March 7, 1965. During that encounter, eye witnesses such as Joe Jones who, as a 17-year-old student was captured in a photograph trying to aid the unconscious Mrs. Boynton, report that they thought she was dead. None of the authorities attempted to provide help for her. When someone told Sheriff Jim Clark that Mrs. Boynton might be dead, he replied, “Let the buzzards eat her.” Maurice Anderson, a Black funeral home director ignored the Sheriff and backed his ambulance onto the bridge to pick up Mrs. Boynton. She was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital where she later regained consciousness.
Mrs. Nancy Anderson, whose grandson is Mr. Terry Walker, the proprietor of Walkers Mortuary Services of Selma, was on the Bridge that day and suffered the loss of an eye. After legal and political intervention, the marchers were successful weeks later in their quest to complete the march from Selma to Montgomery, which quickly led to the mushrooming of the civil and voting rights movement into an international mass movement. But Mrs. Robinson’s efforts for justice and civil rights began long before 1965. From the 1930s, she and her first husband, Mr. Samuel William “Bill” Boynton, Sr., as residents of Selma, along with fighters like Mr. C.J. Adams, fought for voting rights and property ownership for African-Americans in the poorest rural areas of Alabama, where they worked as Agents for the United States Department of Agriculture. In her position, Amelia became the first woman in America to serve as a County Agent with the Department. Discriminated against by whites and ostracized by blacks who were afraid to associate with them, the Boyntons found the struggle for freedom and survival an uphill battle.
As the late Rev. James L. Bevel stated following the 1995 performance program in Washington, D.C. of the play, “Through The Years,” written by Mrs. Robinson, “[b]efore the world knew that there was a Martin Luther King, Jr., C.T. Vivian, Andrew Young, or Hosea Williams, or before a Bernard LaFayette, James Bevel, John Lewis, Marion Barry or Diane Nash were born, Amelia was fighting illiteracy and fear in African American people with love. Not only did she raise the moral and intellectual standard of her people through education, in 1936, she wrote the play to further inspire the people and to raise funds to carry on the liberation struggle.”
The Boyntons were the first Blacks in Alabama to own an insurance company, as well as a real-estate and employment agency. Together, they helped to raise funds and built a community center in Selma that was used primarily by African Americans, who previously did not have a facility where they could hold events as the white citizens of Selma did.
The recipient of numerous awards and citations, Mrs. Robinson was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Medal in 1990, and in 2005, during the commemoration of the “Bloody Sunday” March, SCLC/W.O.M.E.N of Atlanta, Georgia and the National Voting Rights Institute and Museum of Selma unveiled a monument in Mrs. Robinson’s honor at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. During its 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2007, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference honored her with its highest award, the Rosa Parks Award, which was established in 1962 by Dr. King when he served as president of the organization. Amelia was a member of the Daughters of Isis, Mizraim Court #110, and she was an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Amelia was cofounder of the Voting Rights Institute and Museum, as well as the Annual Jubilee that commemorates “Bloody Sunday” in Selma.
On May 5, 1964, Amelia was the first woman in the State of Alabama to run for office in the United States Congress, garnering 10.7 percent of the vote at a time when very few African Americans were allowed to vote. At death, Dr. Boynton Robinson had been a registered voter for 83 years.
Dr. Robinson, who was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate at the National Conference of Black Lawyers by Community College of Law and International Diplomacy in Chicago on May 19, 1996, was married to the late Samuel W. Boynton in 1936 and for 27 years until his untimely death on May 13, 1963.
Truly a family person, Amelia helped to raise (along with their son, Bruce) her stepson, S. William “Bill” Boynton, II, and her youngest brother George’s daughters, Germaine Platts Bowser and Sharon Platts Seay, as her own daughters. After husband Bill’s death Amelia continued the fight for voting rights and other privileges for the downtrodden. Portions of what became the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were written at her kitchen table in Selma. The national school lunch program started after a 1967 visit by then-Assistant to the USDA Secretary William M. Seabron, upon Amelia’s request. Hundreds of acres of land purchased between 1940’s and 1960’s to help poor Blacks end sharecropping for others and to begin producing crops for themselves were used under the model established by the Boynton’s in Dallas County. A bust of Mr. Boynton proudly stands in the Alabama 4-H Center in Columbiana, Alabama, honoring his commitment to helping the underprivileged and disenfranchised. Over seven years after Mr. Boynton’s death, Amelia joined in holy matrimony with her second husband, Mr. Robert William Billups in 1971. They lived as husband and wife for four years until that fateful day in 1975 when he drowned in a boating accident in the Savannah harbor. Amelia and their friend, Mrs. Gloria Maddox of Selma, were the only survivors of the seven passengers on a small boat in that tragic occurrence. In 1976, Amelia married Mr. James Robinson. She resided at Tuskegee Institute in the home her husband built prior to their marriage. He later succumbed to complications of diabetes in 1988, leaving her to live again as a widow. In the 1970’s, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development had a low-income housing program in which poor families could own a home with the cost based upon the annual income and its size based upon the number
of persons in the family. Mrs. Boynton Robinson and son, Bruce, had received authorization to build the first 28 of 80 homes around 30 acres of lakes in the Dallas County area. President Richard Nixon issued an Executive Order that froze the program and Congress replaced it with the Section 8 Program. During her 96th Birthday Celebration in 2007, Mrs. Boynton Robinson was honored by hundreds of family members, friends and associates in the celebration of her long and storied life. Having informed several of her loved ones that she does not want money spent on flowers in her death, a collective effort was planned to give her flowers while she lived and to facilitate a reconciliation of some of the negatives which were caused by law enforcement officials against her and her husband in Selma from the 1930s up to 1965. A remarkable tribute to Amelia occurred in Tuskegee in 2007 by law enforcement officials who ranged from Alabama State Troopers to Dallas and Macon Counties Deputy Sheriffs to Tuskegee’s Chief of Police and Officers that began with a grand limousine escort from her home to the celebration site, Booker T. Washington High School. Through her affiliation with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom as well as Schiller Institute, which she served as vice chair for about 25 years, Amelia Boynton Robinson toured the Nation and World, speaking on behalf of the principles of civil and human rights, a cause she championed for more than nine decades. Because of her love for young people as the hope for the future, she founded in 2006 a youth institution called The Village of Hope, Incorporated, based in Tuskegee, and until 2013, established the Amelia Boynton Robinson Civil and Voting Rights Museum in the basement of her home. Now, Tuskegee University, through its Archives Department, serves as the holder of her personal memorabilia and collectibles.
In 2011, Amelia’s family founded the Amelia Boynton Robinson Foundation, Incorporated. In addition, the house in which she and her husband, Bill, called home in Selma, was named to the Alabama Register by the Alabama Historical Commission in 2008. Also during that year, the house was placed on the list of Places in Peril by the Commission, which will allow funding to be secured to help restore it. Mrs. Boynton Robinson had high hopes of the house being named a National Historic Site someday, especially since so many civil and voting rights icons and others visited it over the years. Persons like Dr. George Washington Carver (her son, Bruce’s godfather), Mrs. Booker T. Washington, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Jesse Jackson, Activist Dick Gregory, former United States Ambassador Andrew Young, and many others frequented the house because it provided one of few places for Movement strategy meetings and for lodging for the Movement participants since public accommodations were not opened to African Americans until the late 1960s. Speaking of public accommodations, Mrs. Boynton Robinson’s son, Bruce, a law student at the time, went into the White section at a bus terminal in Richmond, Virginia to purchase food when in route home for the Christmas holidays in 1958 from Washington, D.C. on Trailways bus line. Bruce was arrested for trespassing, found guilty of a misdemeanor and fined. Several appeals were filed and lost at the local and state levels.
Then-attorney Thurgood Marshall brought the matter before the United States Supreme Court which ruled in the landmark decision of Boynton v. Commonwealth of Virginia, striking down segregation in interstate travel. This case was the precursor to the Freedom Riders “test” of the new law it established. Boynton was Marshall’s last case argued before the Supreme Court prior to being appointed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to serve as Solicitor General. Marshall went from there to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and ultimately to become the first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Amelia Boynton Robinson, enshrined the “Matriarch of the Voting Rights Movement” in 2007, continued to give of herself in service to humanity. In January 2008, she attended and supported then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign stop in Birmingham, Alabama, during which he publicly acknowledged her presence and the audience rose to its feet with a thunderous round of applause. In February 2010 and 2011, Mrs. Robinson returned to her hometown of Savannah during African American History Month to participate in several programs and to receive accolades and citations from government officials as well as from churches and other local organizations. In March 2010, during the 45th Commemorative Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” she participated with the hundreds attending by giving a first-hand account of what happened on that tragic day in American history.
As a resident of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, a portion of Amelia’s street was named in her honor, “Amelia Boynton Robinson Parkway,” by the City of Tuskegee on October 4, 2013. Some of Amelia’s role in the civil and voting rights movement in Selma, including a reenactment of “Bloody Sunday,” was portrayed in the Academy Award-winning movie, “Selma,” which premiered worldwide on January 9, 2015. She had the opportunity to meet the film’s director, Ms. Ava DuVernay, who visited Amelia’s home in Tuskegee prior to production. Amelia also met with the actress who portrayed her in “Selma,” Ms. Lorraine Toussaint, in Montgomery, Alabama, during filming in 2014. Although she never personally met Ms. Oprah Winfrey, she was honored with a special gift from Oprah during filming in Selma last summer. Mr. Paul Garnes, an executive producer of “Selma,” arranged and held a screening of the movie at Amelia’s home in December 2014. In January, Amelia attended the 2015 State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C., where she met with President Barack Obama. She was endorsed as a nominee by the National Nominating Committee launched in Tuskegee for the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom (selection is pending), and in March, she journeyed across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during Selma 50th, hand-in-hand with the President of the United States. President Obama chose a photograph taken of the event as his Twitter page profile picture with Mrs. Boynton Robinson holding his left hand and Congressman John Lewis holding his right hand!
ONYX Magazine, Florida’s premier African American lifestyle publication, with publisher Richard E. ‘Rich’ Black, honored Amelia with one of its Annual ONYX Awards on March 28, 2015 in Orlando, Florida. She was introduced by Martin Luther King, III who stated during his introduction that he has “known Mrs. Boynton all of my life.” Florida’s Congresswoman Corrine Brown, District 5, presented the ONYX Award in a salute to the Matriarch of the Voting Rights Movement. On April 10, 2015, Tuskegee University National Alumni Association presented Dr. Boynton Robinson with the Booker T. Washington Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest award bestowed upon a member of the Tuskegee alumni. On May 2, 2015, Dr. Boynton Robinson received her first Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humane Letters from a Historically Black College or University; Paul Quinn College of Dallas, Texas, honoring her lifetime of work committed to voting and civil rights. During the Spring Commencement at Tuskegee University on May 9, 2015, the centenarian had the distinct honor of meeting again with the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama who gave a very powerful Commencement address to the graduating class. In Houston, Texas during its 2015 National Convention on July 24, 2015, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated paid homage to “such a Distinguished Legend as Amelia Boynton Robinson” with its highest and most esteemed honor, the Mary Church Terrell Award.
During the Annual Imperial Court of the Daughters of Isis on Amelia’s birthday, August 18, 2015, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Tuskegee’s Illustrious Commandress, Mrs. Barbara Jones, on behalf of the Daughters of Isis, Mizraim Court #110, was presented with its Hall of Fame Outstanding American Woman Award for Dt. Boynton Robinson’s “Dedication, Work and Charitable Acts to her Church, Community, State and Country.” Dt. Amelia was not able to attend the affair due to her last illness. The Congressional Black Caucus voted in July 2015 for Dr. Boynton Robinson to receive its Harold Washington Phoenix Award at its Annual CBC Awards Gala on September 19, 2015 in the Nation’s Capitol. Alabama Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell, District 7, chaired the session and called for the vote. The nomination was made by Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, District 24, and seconded by Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown, District 5. Over the years, Mrs. Boynton Robinson enjoyed numerous visits to Freeport, Bahamas for rest and relaxation with family and friends. And, now, she has completed her Earthly Course and has entered Eternal Rest from her physical labor here. Amelia joins her parents and other ascendants, including South Carolina Congressman, the Honorable Robert Smalls, her cousin, Rev. Frederick Eikerenkoetter (Rev. Ike, whose Church honored Amelia in June 2015), her siblings, Wilhelmina, Alvarena (who died in infancy), Elizabeth, Harold, Eloise, Anna, Geneva, Audrey and George, her stepson Samuel William Boynton, Jr., and step-grandson Samuel William Boynton, III in their heavenly home. To cherish, honor and commit to continuing her great Legacy here on Earth, Amelia passes the torch to her son, Atty. Bruce Carver Boynton (Betty), Selma, Alabama; Bruce, raised her brothers children as her daughters, Germaine A. Platts Bowser, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Sharon A. Platts Seay, Selma, Alabama; granddaughters, Carver A. Boynton,
Gadsden, Alabama; Aimee Meredith, Calera, Alabama; Renoir Platts Fields, Coatesville, Pennsylvania; Rhonda Platts Savoris (Antonio) and Catrina Platts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Sabrina Seay, Melissa Seay and Santana Seay, Selma, Alabama; grandsons, Micah Seay, Atlanta, Georgia; step-grandsons, Mark Simmons (Lillie) Deatsville, Alabama; Officer James Strong, Phoenix City, Alabama; Markho Strong, Clarence Strong, both of Selma, Alabama; stepgranddaughters, Jacqueline Simmons, Charlotte, North Carolina; Valerie Lynn Simmons, Glen Dale, Maryland; and Annie Kate Strong; nephews, Murray Threadgill (Anne Head), Laguna Hills, California; and, Terrence Smith, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; nieces, Dorothea Smith Baylor (John), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Carol Platts Robinson (William), Bronx, New York; Judy Platts Oliver, Pottstown, Pennsylvania; grand nephews, Tyler Threadgill (Michelle), Asheville, North Carolina; Rao Threadgill (Virginia), Bonanza, Oregon; Soren Threadgill, Santa Barbara, California; Atty. Steven Smith, Paris, France, Mark H. Smith, Blacksburg, Virginia; Herman “Sonny” Winters (Loretta), Williamstown, New Jersey; Gil Winters (Ayo), Takoma Park, Maryland; Louis Chatman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Clifton Brooks, Jr., Centreville, Virginia; and, John J. “JJ” McCullen, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; step-grandnephew, Atty. Kimeu Boynton (Kristen), Washington, D.C.; grand nieces, Lisa Lariba (Mario), Paso Robles, California; Robin A. Smith, Kabul, Afghanistan, Pia Threadgill Gullifer (Tony), Laguna Woods, California; Danea Threadgill Riley (Jim), Laguna Hills, California; Perditha Victoria Cofer-Anderson, Rev. Justice Royal, Pamela Joan Trice Mitchell, Yvette “Dimples” Baylor Mitchell, Sandra Baylor and Beatrice Baylor, all of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Blair Robinson, New York, New York; several great grandchildren, great grandnephews, great grandnieces, other relatives, friends and numerous “adopted family members,” including Atty. Lateefah Muhammad and Atty. Faya Rose Toure’.
The Guy in the Glass When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf, And the world makes you King for a day, Then go to the mirror and look at yourself, And see what that guy has to say. For it isn’t your Father, or Mother, or Wife, Whose judgment upon you must pass. The feller whose verdict counts most in your life Is the guy staring back from the glass. He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest, For he’s with you clear up to the end, And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test If the guy in the glass is your friend. You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum, And think you’re a wonderful guy, But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum If you can’t look him straight in the eye. You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years, And get pats on the back as you pass, But your final reward will be heartaches and tears If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass. By Dale Wimbrow, (c) 1934
Acknowledgments
The Family of Dr. Amelia Boynton Robinson extends our deepest gratitude to Tuskegee University for the care and support provided during this difficult time. We also wish to thank Dr. John Jernigan, M.D., Mulberry and Associates, Jackson Hospital, Noland Hospital of Montgomery, Alacare Home Health Services, Southeast IV Pharmacy, Freeman’s Pharmacy, Amelia’s Caregivers, the Homegoing Celebration Planning Committee and to all who loved Dr. Amelia Boynton Robinson.
Harry Belafonte Richard E. Black Esther Brown Dr. Arthur Case Judy Collins Shawn Eckles Bishop Eikerenkoetter Dea. and Mrs. Aubrey Ford, Jr. Paul Garnes Jim Gavenus Atty. Fred D. Gray Dick and Lillian Gregory Dea. and Mrs. Ellis M. Hall, Sr. Sceiva Holland
Honorary Pallbearers
Barbara Howard Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. Norma M. Jackson Dr. John Jernigan Naomi King Carol Munday Lawrence Rev. Joseph E. Lowery Diane Nash Kathy and Charles Notley Dr. Doris Oliveira Dea. and Mrs. Benjamin A. Outland Rev. Jevette Page Sereetta Reed Dr. Muhjah Shakir
Rev. Al Sharpton Andrea Case Smith Delores Stone Snorton Elaine Eason Steele Tollie M. Todd Min. Florence Pace Tyner Cicely Tyson Dea. and Mrs. Leo Upchurch Ron and Deanna Wieczorek Oprah Winfrey Pastor Bill Winston Ambassador Andrew Young Foot Soldiers of the Movement Selma
Tuskegee
Active Pallbearers
Active Pallbearers
Greenwood Missionary Baptist Church Dea. Joseph T. Alexander, Jr. Dea. Sherwin Boswell Dea. Major Holland Dea. Michael Holland Dea. Marlin King Dea. Carlton Morris
Herman A Winters III-Grand nephew. Bremond Seay- great grandson Micah Seay-granson Frank McGill-Friend Gill Winters-grandnephew
Tuskegee and Selma
Flower Bearers
Daughters of Isis Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated
Repast
Repast for the family begins immediately after the Homegoing Service at Greenwood Missionary Baptist Church,1510 Washington Avenue, Tuskegee Instutute, Alabama 36088 Permitted Photographs by Germaine A. Platts Bowser, Calvin E. Evans, Jim Gavenus, Atty. Lateefah Muhammad, ONYX Magazine, Rich Black, publisher, and from Dr. Amelia Boynton Robinson’s personal collection.
SUPPORT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AMELIA BOYNTON ROBINSON FOUNDATION The primary focus of The Amelia Boynton Robinson Foundation is to perpetuate the global contributions of Dr. Amelia Boynton Robinson by advocating for voter's empowerment, civil rights, economic development and to promote higher education. The foundation's mission is to provide scholarships and support to college students whom are in need.
Through The Years: A Three-Act Drama and Musical by Dr. Amelia Boynton Robinson The 1936 musical drama,Through the Years tells the story of Joshua Terrell, who despite the harsh conditions of a slave's life fights with courage and determination to win freedom and to gain leadership in the U.S. Congress. It is in part autobiographical, as Dr. Boynton Robinson's family boasts at least one Reconstruction-era U.S. Congressman. 100% of all ticket sale profits of this historic theatre production will benefit the Amelia Boynton Robinson Foundation and its establishment. Visit The Leaders and Legends Organization at www.leadersandlegends.org for more information about the production, show times and dates. Upon the wishes of Dr. Amelia Boynton Robinson, in lieu of flowers we ask that you make donations to assist in establishing The Amelia Boynton Robinson Foundation. The Amelia Boynton Robinson Foundation. c/o Marion Bank & Trust Company 2400 Highway 80 West Selma, AL 36702 Or by visiting the future home of the foundation's website: www.AmeliaBoyntonRobinson.org For more information on how you may support her continued legacy.
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Congressional Gold Medal to the “Foot Soldiers” who participated in Bloody Sunday
It’s important that young people know about the struggles we faced to get to the point we are today. Only then will they appreciate the hard-won freedom of blacks in this country. - AMELIA BOYTON ROBINSON -
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