Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom

by Lynda Blackmon Lowery
Lynda Blackmon Lowery was the youngest participant in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery protest marches that aimed to secure voting rights for African Americans. In this memoir, she recounts her experiences in the Civil Rights Movement.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. slur
    a negative or offensive remark about someone
    They drove through other black neighborhoods, hiding their faces with sheets on their heads, yelling racial slurs, blowing their horns, and cursing and shooting their guns.
  2. segregation
    a social system that provides different facilities for minority groups
    When my mother died, I heard the older people say, "If she wasn't colored, she could've been saved." But the hospital was for whites only. My mother died as a result of her skin color. I just believe that. So segregation hurt my family.
  3. nonviolence
    peaceful resistance to a government
    He was talking about nonviolence and how you could persuade people to do things your way with steady, loving confrontation.
  4. confrontation
    a hostile disagreement face-to-face
    He was talking about nonviolence and how you could persuade people to do things your way with steady, loving confrontation.
  5. civil
    of or occurring between or among citizens of the state
    At that time I was already in the movement—the civil rights movement.
  6. integrate
    open up to members of all races and ethnic groups
    Bettie and her friends were trying to integrate Selma by going to whites-only places.
  7. registrar
    the administrator responsible for student records
    The registrars asked ridiculous questions such as, "How deep is the Alabama River?" and "How many jelly beans are in this gallon jar?"
  8. prod
    a pointed instrument used to provoke into motion
    If you didn't get on the bus fast enough, the police would shock you with a cattle prod.
  9. armory
    a structure where military equipment is stored
    At first they would take us to the old National Guard Armory, where we had to stand for hours all packed together, or sit on the concrete floor. But after a week or so of that, they started taking us right to jail.
  10. juvenile
    of or relating to children or young people
    There was a judge there, and he said, "Y'all smell. Just write your name on a piece of paper and get out of here. If I see any one of you up here again, I'm gonna send you to juvenile detention."
  11. detention
    a state of being confined (usually for a short time)
    There was a judge there, and he said, "Y'all smell. Just write your name on a piece of paper and get out of here. If I see any one of you up here again, I'm gonna send you to juvenile detention."
  12. procession
    the action of a group moving ahead in regular formation
    Funeral procession for Jimmie Lee Jackson
  13. deputize
    appoint as a substitute
    They didn't have uniforms or anything. Our sheriff deputized any white man who might want to bust our heads.
  14. staunch
    firm and dependable especially in loyalty
    And Sheriff Clarke was the meanest of them all. He was a staunch segregationist.
  15. bellow
    shout loudly and without restraint
    "Go back to your church," the troopers bellowed out on bullhorns.
  16. stagger
    walk with great difficulty
    I staggered up and ran—right into the tear gas, but that big white man kept on running after me and hitting me.
  17. hearse
    a vehicle for carrying a coffin to a church or a cemetery
    Some men were loading me into the back of a hearse, but I wasn't dead, and I sure wasn't going to let them put me in the back of that hearse before my time!
  18. inundate
    overwhelm or fill quickly beyond capacity
    A whole lot of people who had seen that Bloody Sunday news report were so mad that they came to Selma to join us. We were inundated with people, all kinds of people. I mean housewives, teachers, students, priests, nuns...and many of them were white.
  19. hover
    hang in the air; fly or be suspended above
    At the bridge I saw soldiers protecting us with rifles. I was excited—and kind of amazed that I'd gotten that far without being beaten. Helicopters hovered above us. I felt even safer.
  20. psyche
    that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings
    I was beginning to realize what Bloody Sunday had done to my psyche.
  21. determination
    firmness of purpose
    Everybody was just pumped up with this determination with a capital D. Of course, I was a little scared too.
  22. dreary
    causing dejection
    When I left the tent, I walked out into a foggy, dreary morning.
  23. bayonet
    a knife fixed to the end of a rifle and used as a weapon
    Now, there were maybe a hundred guardsmen around, but I just focused on those three, because they were looking right at me, and the long steel bayonets on their rifles were pointed at me.
  24. sniper
    a marksman who shoots from a concealed place
    Guardsmen were searching the woods and swamps for snipers.
  25. outskirts
    area relatively far from the center, as of a city or town
    On that fourth day of the march, thousands of people joined us as we got to the outskirts of Montgomery.
  26. abreast
    alongside each other, facing in the same direction
    We were all singing and happy, marching to the capitol. We weren't walking two abreast anymore. Marchers filled the street. People had to squeeze in to join.
  27. literacy
    the ability to read and write
    In places like Selma, state laws and procedures made registering to vote easy for white people, but close to impossible for African Americans. First you filled out a four-page application. Then you took an extremely difficult "literacy test," which white applicants usually did not have to take at all.
  28. vouch
    give personal assurance; guarantee
    Finally, you had to find a person who was already registered to "vouch" for you. After that you waited for days or weeks until the registrars decided—in their opinion—if you were fit to vote.
  29. evict
    expel from one's property or force to move out
    You could be fired from your job and evicted from your home.
  30. circulate
    become widely known and passed on
    And then your picture was circulated to all the other employers and landlords so you could not get a new job or rent another home.
  31. eligible
    qualified for or allowed or worthy of being chosen
    In 1964 there were 14,400 white citizens and 15,115 black citizens eligible to vote in our county—more black than white citizens.
  32. democratic
    based upon the principles of social equality
    As he put it, "So long as I do not...possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind—it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact—I can only submit to the edict of others."
  33. enact
    order by virtue of superior authority; decree
    As he put it, "So long as I do not...possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind—it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact—I can only submit to the edict of others."
  34. edict
    a legally binding command or decision
    As he put it, "So long as I do not...possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind—it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact—I can only submit to the edict of others."
  35. discriminate
    treat differently on the basis of race, sex, religion, etc.
    The new law said that in parts of the country where the right to vote was withheld, the federal government would review state or local laws and prevent any that discriminated against voters.
Created on Thu Jan 02 19:28:15 EST 2020 (updated Fri Jan 03 11:10:05 EST 2020)

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