Lynda Blackmon Lowery, youngest Selma marcher, dies at 75
Lynda Blackmon Lowery, who survived the brutal beatings by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the 1965 'Bloody Sunday' voting rights march in Selma, Alabama, and later became a tireless educator about that pivotal moment in American history, has died. She was 75. Lowery passed away on January 12, 2026, at a hospital in Selma, according to her family. Her death marks the loss of one of the most poignant figures of the civil rights movement, a woman whose youth at the time of the marches belied her immense courage. In March 1965, Lowery was just 14 years old when she joined the march to Montgomery to demand voting rights for Black Americans. She was among the hundreds of peaceful demonstrators attacked by a sheriff's posse and state troopers with clubs and tear gas. Bruised and bloodied, she was one of the first to be hospitalized. Her activism did not end on the bridge. Two weeks later, at age 15, she marched triumphantly from Selma to Montgomery alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., completing the journey that the initial marchers had been violently prevented from making. Decades later, Lowery dedicated her life to ensuring the history of Selma was not forgotten. She served as a clerk in the Dallas County Probate Office and was a relentless advocate for voting rights. In 2015, she attended the 50th anniversary of the march as President Barack Obama looked on. She chronicled her experiences in the memoir 'Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom,' ensuring that younger generations understood the sacrifices made for their right to vote. Her legacy remains a testament to the power of youth activism and the enduring struggle for equality in America.
