Selma Civil Rights Pioneer Dies (Marie Foster)

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Marie Foster, a civil rights icon who was beaten but participated in the 1965 voting rights march to Montgomery after urging Martin Luther King Junior to help lead the cause, has died at age 85. Foster, who died Saturday, was remembered for a life of activism that included launching "citizenship classes" in which she taught blacks how to register to vote.

Foster was one of the "Courageous Eight" -- eight blacks on the steering committee of the Dallas County Voters League -- who convinced King to come to Selma to lead voter registration drives. She was among voting rights marchers beaten and turned back by deputies and troopers on March seventh, 1965, which became known as "Bloody Sunday." The vest Foster wore during the march was autographed by many leaders of the civil rights movement and is now on display in Selma at the National Voting Rights Institute and Museum. Funeral services for Foster are scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Tabernacle Baptist Church.

http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/news/story/0911202003_new03voting911.asp