REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- She was just eight years old when she joined the fight for equality, Sheyann Webb-Christburg, "the youngest freedom fighter," served as the guest speaker for the U.S. Army Materiel Command's annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observance.
Personnel from AMC and Team Redstone filled the Bob Jones Auditorium here to celebrate and honor the life and legacy of King on Jan. 21.
Webb-Christburg was affectionately dubbed the youngest freedom fighter by King himself, after a chance meeting at her local church in Selma, Alabama.
"I can never repay him for the mark he left," said Webb-Christburg. "He truly plucked me from poverty and elevated my mind."
She said that King instilled in her that regardless of one's economic status if you can believe it, then you can achieve it. "The only means of survival would depend upon determination, fortitude, adequate preparation, faith in God and confidence in yourself," Webb-Christburg said.
Webb-Christburg took to heart King's teachings and urgings for freedom and equality for all people. So despite discouragement from her family and church members at just 8 she participated in the attempted march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama. This protest became known as Bloody Sunday.
During the march, the protestors were blocked by local police who ordered them to turn around. When the protesters refused, the officers shot teargas and waded into the crowd, beating the nonviolent protesters with billy clubs and ultimately hospitalizing over fifty people.
"The picture of Bloody Sunday has never left my heart or my mind," she said. "Fifty years later the struggle is not over. People are still being robbed of their identity and not treated as human beings."
She urged the audience to do more than talk about the problems but to be a part of the solution.
"Dr. King represented a movement for positive change. He did not just talk the talk but he put his words and his deeds to action," she said.
Webb-Christburg concluded by quoting King said, "Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
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