"Movements for social change are like jigsaw puzzles. Everyone is a piece. If your piece is missing, the picture is not complete.
Why? Because you're the most important piece."
JoAnne Bland
During my lifetime, I have been both a witness and a participant in some of our nation's most consequential civil rights battles. In the early 60's, I began my activism, with the SNCC (The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) organized for myself along with other children and teens in my neighborhood and area to participate in the Civil Rights Movement.
Born and raised in Selma, Alabama, I have seen first hand how racism and segregation created a deadly divide between two races and decided that it was my duty to ensure that my voice was one of the many that was heard to create equality and voting rights for African Americans.
JoAnne Bland
Civil Rights Activist and Tour Director
Voting is the most prestigious right of every citizen, and we have a moral obligation to ensure the integrity of our voting process.
Hillary Clinton
By the time I was 11 years old, I had been arrested 13 times that are documented. I was an active participant in Bloody Sunday, marching alongside 600 or more only to get brutally beaten, tear gassed and hit by policemen on horses with billy clubs.
My early involvement in the struggle against "Jim Crow", the American apartheid, has been the foundation and fuel for my civil and human rights work.
"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change we seek."
Barack Obama
Currently, I am the owner and operator of Journeys for the Soul, a touring agency that specializes in Civil Rights tours with a major focus on Selma, Alabama. All the guides are participants of the Voting Rights struggle and each share their unique personal accounts of their involvement. The tours are designed to give you a front row seat to Civil Rights and the empowerment to be involved in your local communities, elections and most importantly to understand WHY it is important for you to use your right to VOTE!