Appreciations of Amelia Boynton Robinson
from Leaders in the Movement --
Included in Bridge Across Jordan

In Bridge Over Jordan, Amelia Boynton Robinson has crafted an inspiring, eloquent memoir of her more than five decades on the front lines of the struggle for racial equality and social justice. This work is an important contribution to the history of the black freedom struggle, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone who cares about human rights in America.

Coretta Scott King

Amelia Boynton Robinson came to visit us in Atlanta and invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to come to Selma. At that time Selma was under almost as many restrictions as South Africa. It was against the law for more than four people to meet in a public place and no more than three people could walk down the street together for any purpose. In joining Martin Luther King, Jr. to help free Selma, Amelia Boynton helped to develop the pattern that led to a worldwide human rights movement, and the victories in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, Southern Africa and China all bear the influence of the Selma Movement.

Andrew Young

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The roots of the Selma right to vote movement, which politically enfranchised the African-American people and advanced the cause of freedom and justice for all people, can be traced back to the seed planted by Amelia Boynton, when she began her voter registration work in 1929. Let me thank Amelia for allowing me to receive the freedom fruit from the tree she was wise and loving enought to plant.

Rev. James Bevel
former director for Nonviolent Direct Action, SCLC
former director of the Right to Vote Movement, Selma

I cannot remember when I didn't know Amelia Boynton Robinson. A remarkable, strong-willed, college-trained black woman who led a dedicated and dangerous civil rights struggle in Selma, Alabama many years before Martin Luther King, Jr. King once told me Mrs. Robinson was a reason he came to Selma. She continued the struggle after King and the organizations left. Her faith, courage, intelligence and devotion are extraordinary and the manner in which she used them say so much about the real America. This powerful book about her life should be required reading in the White House, the Congress and every school and college in America. The nation owes Amelia Boynton Robinson much.

J. L. Chestnut, Jr.
Author, Black in Selma

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Over the past two decades, Amelia Boynton Robinson has inspired me with her humble simplicity and the complex manner in which she tells her story of the movement.

Edith M. Savage
Member of the Board
Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change