Generational civil rights advocate Bettie Mae Fikes began her crusade and march for freedom in 1962 at only 16 years of age when she became a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The SNCC was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina by veteran civil rights organizer Ella Baker in April 1960 and young people, like Fikes, dedicated to the movement through nonviolent means.
Today, Fikes is still fighting to protect the many freedoms that she and millions of other Black Americans have earned thanks to the lives sacrificed by countless others. Known as the “Voice” of Selma, Fikes continues to tell the stories of yesterday that still ache in her heart today. It’s the brutal truths and bloody memories that impact and, through the spirit of song, touch the souls and tug at the emotions of all those who are willing to listen and learn.
Her message of peace and love, her graceful gift of song, and her everlasting stories of how iconic civil rights heroes like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the late Rep. John Lewis (GA-5) positively changed her life permeated Atlantic Cape Community College’s standing-room-only Mays Landing campus Student Center for this Office of Student Engagement and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion-sponsored discussion on October 24 before nearly 125 guests.
Fikes, 78, was born in Selma, Alabama on April 16, 1946 and into a racial environment that many today do not realize existed nor fully understand why it did so. According to Fikes, it is her job and duty to keep on speaking and singing because, “all of the freedom we enjoy today someone had to die for.”
Early on, at the age of four, Fikes fell in love with the power of gospel singing while attending church on Sunday’s with her gospel-singing mother. At 11, Fikes’ mother passed away. Growing up in southern Alabama during the 1950’s, Fikes knew that something wasn’t right in her community, but truly did not fully understand what it was. She did wonder, though, why those like her couldn’t be treated like everybody else? At 16, she joined the SNCC to get out of her house and to find something to do. Soon, she found a righteous cause to be a part of.
The enormity of the cause would soon become apparent. Fikes would personally take part in sit-ins at whites-only restaurant counters, bus boycotts, school walkouts and voter registration rallies. Fikes briefly described some of the horrific scenes that she witnessed over the years from beatings and shootings to stabbings and fire bombings. Those disturbing images forever seared into her memory.
“Y’all don’t know. I have been crying for 60 years,” admitted Fikes. “Imagine standing there and you are seeing these things happen to someone you care about, but because she is nonviolent you have to watch them slap your grandma and stick a pipe down your best friend’s ear.”
Fikes personally participated in the infamous Bloody Sunday march when more than 600 protestors crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965 and were ultimately attacked by white gangs and State Troopers with batons. She provided updates from Brown Chapel to the head of the marching line.
It was on the marching trail where Fikes began to put her dynamic and soulful voice to use. She would lead many of the marches in song and even alter some of the lyrics, such as “This Little Light of Mine” to “Tell (Sheriff) Jim Clark I’m going to let it shine” to fit the movement and cause du jour. To this day, the power of song still gives Fikes the strength to carry on. She continues to use her voice to empower the Black community and the Movement has enabled her to recognize how important music is in the enduring struggle for freedom.
“We sang our way out of fear. We weren’t singing freedom songs. These were all gospel songs,” said Fikes. “Singing isn’t about your voice, it’s about your spirit. I have been singing for freedom ever since.”
After listening to Dr. King’s oratory elegance and the power of his words, Fikes was hypnotized by the immense influence of his message of nonviolence that Dr. King had over her and the rest of his followers and supporters.
“When Dr. King spoke, I was ready to go to jail for him, to protect him and even die,” admitted Fikes. “Dr. King told us to get an education because that is the only thing they can’t take from you. Use your education for righteousness.”
Fikes encouraged all those in attendance, including the many students intently listening to her inspirational words, to continue the struggle for freedom and equality, to keep those songs in your heart, and to make a difference in the world today and in other’s lives.
“Meeting Bettie Mae Fikes was a moment that I will never forget. To hear the story of a civil rights legend is a privilege. Her story of being an activist and what came of that was truly inspiring,” said Student Government Association Vice President Michael Heston. “The courage that Ms. Fikes continues to show is very commendable. I hope to one day walk in her footsteps, as well as the courageous people who came before her.”
“What would your story be? What are you doing to create a story? What are you doing to create a life? What are you doing to help your community?” asked Fikes. “You got to make somebody else’s life great. You got to touch a heart.”
After her speech, City of Atlantic City Council Vice President/Third Ward Councilman and Atlantic City Branch President for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Kaleem Shabazz presented Fikes with a plaque that pays tribute to her for being “the living embodiment of courage, love and resilience in the fight for voting rights in America.”
Fikes doesn’t intend to slow down or stop her work anytime soon. Her message is universal, timely and timelessly transgenerational.
“I continue to do what I do today because someone died for me. I have always wanted to be a person who could right the wrongs.”
View a photo gallery of this event on Flickr here.
