Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – 103-year-old voting rights activist Amelia Boynton Robinson arrived in Washington, D.C., early Tuesday to attend the State of the Union as a special guest of Congresswoman Terri Sewell.

Mrs. Boynton Robinson’s role in Bloody Sunday and the march from Selma to Montgomery is immortalized in the Oscar-nominated film, Selma. She also made history in 1964, by becoming the first woman and the first African-American from Alabama to run for Congress. Mrs. Boynton Robinson garnered 10 percent of the vote, despite the fact that African-Americans only made up 1 percent of the voting population in Alabama’s 7thCongressional district. Forty-six years later, Congresswoman Sewell now holds that seat in Congress as Alabama’s first African-American Congresswoman.

“I feel as though Terri and I have a bond that cannot be broken. I am delighted that she invited me as her guest to hear our President give the State of the Union address. I appreciate the work of her entire staff and my assistants in Tuskegee who helped make my trip to Washington possible. I will forever remember this day,” Mrs. Boynton Robinson said.

“I am honored that Mrs. Boynton Robinson is attending the State of the Union as my special guest. Amelia Boynton Robinson challenged an unfair and unjust system that kept African Americans from exercising their constitutionally protected right to vote. She paved the way for me to accomplish all that I have today, and her legacy should inspire us not to take any of our rights for granted,” said Congresswoman Sewell.

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Congresswoman Terri Sewell is a Democrat from Alabama’s 7th Congressional District.
A Member of the House Financial Services Committee and the House Select Intelligence Committee.

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