Bettie Mae Fikes (born 1948) also known as The Voice of Selma,[1] is an American singer and civil rights activist.
Life
Born in Selma, Alabama in 1948, she began singing at the age of four.[2] Fikes was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom Singers,[3] and became known as "the Voice of Selma".[4] She was jailed as a teenager in 1963 for her participation in a Selma protest and was also involved in Bloody Sunday in 1965.[5] Her new lyrics for "This Little Light of Mine" and other songs became particularly known.[citation needed] She performed at both the 1964 Democratic National Convention and the 2004 Democratic National Convention.[citation needed] In 2020, she sang at the funeral services for John Lewis, which she indicated might be her final public performance.[6]
References
Citations
- ^ "Bettie Mae Fikes". SNCC Digital Gateway. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- ^ Hutchinson 1999, p. 143.
- ^ Living Blues Publications 2007, p. 44.
- ^ "Bettie Mae Fikes". SNCC Digital Gateway. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ "Bettie Mae Fikes". SNCC Digital Gateway. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
- ^ "John Lewis, Sharecroppers' Son, Is Given A Heroes Sendoff In Alabama". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
Bibliography
- Hutchinson, John (26 August 1999). The Hutchinson Encyclopedia Of Modern Political Biography. Avalon Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8133-3741-8.
- Living Blues Publications (2007). Living Blues. Vol. 188–193. Living Blues Publications.
External links
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