Booker T. Booker, 78
Location: Selma, AL
Interview facilitated by Zannetta Booker & Zandra Nash
Booker T. Booker was a principal at a local elementary school when the history-making civil rights marches from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery began. He was also completing his degree at Alabama State University and driving the 50 miles from Selma, Alabama to the school every night, while smuggling in teachers, students, farmers and anyone else who wanted to join the movement. Booker says that no one was safe, particularly those who worked for the county.
"The establishment didn't want people to be involved in the movement because it was breaking the tradition," Booker says. "Because, actually, the whole thing was, 'You don't need to be a voter. You don't need to be a voter, you don't need to have no civil rights.'"
Watch as Booker reveals how the county school administrators punished teachers for joining or supporting the protests.
Hear more stories from people who were at the ground level of the civil rights marches
