In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

13 our neighborhood our neighborhood is made up of older, educated, settled persons. Selma University is close by, and a number of our neighbors were senior faculty and staff there. My husband and i were the youngest couple on the street for several blocks. The neighbors saw all of the people and cars coming and going, the KKK marching by, and the reporters setting up shop on our porch and in the yard. i knew our neighbors were nervous about all the activity on our street but they stayed quiet for the most part. However, had i asked for help from any neighbor i am sure in my heart that many if not all of them would have heard my call. The Smiths, who lived next door and shared a driveway with us, never said a word about the crowded driveway or the throngs of reporters that would surround the house.in fact, they let me store canned goods at their house because i ran out of storage space in my kitchen. As a result of being next door to our house, the Smiths found that their phone was cut off or had “trouble on the line.” Through it all they never complained and for that i am always grateful. outside of ourimmediateblock,thereweremanywhomadetheir quiet contributions. Some took out-of-town student and adult demonstrators into their homes, feeding and sheltering them at their own our neighborhood / 55 cost. Sometimes their own children would sleep on the couch or on the floor. Many, including some of my neighbors, would go to the movement headquarters church to clean up, to help in the kitchen, or whatever needed to be done to support the mass meetings. There were indeed a lot of unsung heroes in Selma working behind the scenes throughout the struggle. i remember one lady who lived near one of the major churches in Selma saying she could not march because of trouble with her legs. but she quickly offered to help the young students who were in town with the movement wash their clothes. Many other contributions we will never know. others we had known as friends became very quiet and invisible. fear workedonsome;theyworriedtheymightgetcaughtinthemiddle if the house were attacked, or that being seen with us might harm their livelihood. others would say, “i’m behind you,” and we didn’t see them again because that was exactly where they were. Surprising as it may sound, there were others who somehow didn’t realize what was going on. What demonstrations? People and reporters were constantly around the house, asking to see Martin to talk to him about this and that, or just to touch the hem of his garment, and usually they had their own agenda. for a reporter , to get one interview with King over their byline would sure help their career. in this atmosphere of crowds of people wanting to get close to Martin to further their own needs, one day a local RomanCatholicpriest , fatherMaurice ouellet, camebythehouse.My husband, who knew the priest very well, took him to see Martin. being the gracious person that he was, Martin listened to the priest and had a friendly but short conversation. Pleased and satisfied, the priest thanked Martin and my husband, and then left. Later that day Martin said to Sully in a very quiet manner, “i see you are making appointments for me now instead of fixing teeth. i 56 / Chapter 13 thought you were my friend.” in his way he was telling Sully not to bring people to see him without his knowing about it. We got the point loud and clear. but later that same day, as a result of the earlier conversation, father ouellet returned, bringing a large contribution of money for the movement, gave it to Martin, and pledged his support for our cause. Sully said, “Sometimes things happen for a reason,” and Martin understood loud and clear. Something we understand now was that it was important for father ouellet as well. i visited him not long ago, just before finishing this book, and he still spoke with emotion of his sense that he had been in the presence of a truly extraordinary man, and he reminded me that Martin had invited him to stand with him and the other ministers at the funeral of Jimmy Lee Jackson. He quoted several lines of Martin’s sermon to me, without notes, after more than forty years. Sully was right—sometimes things do happen for a...

Share