Little Known Black History Fact – Black America 250: Black Women and the Fight for Voting Rights: MARIE FOSTER-“The Mother of the Voting Rights Movement”
Marie Priscilla Martin Foster was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. during the 1960s and a dental nurse. She was instrumental in helping to register many African-American voters in Selma, Alabama, and was one of the primary local organizers of the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. She was called “the mother of the voting rights movement” and was nicknamed “Mother Foster.” She was born as Marie Martin in 1917 in Wilcox County, Alabama USA. When young, Foster’s mother took her to Selma to get an education against Foster’s father’s wishes. Foster did not initially complete high school, but instead dropped out, married, and raised three children. After her husband’s early death, Foster worked low-wage jobs but eventually completed high school, went to a junior college, and became a dental nurse.Mrs. Foster became interested in the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s because she felt “the race relations were so bad in Selma”. She was part of the revival of the Dallas County Voters League, a group of African Americans that pushed for improvements in the system for voter registration and belonged to its eight-member steering committee, known as the “Courageous Eight”.She tried to register to vote eight times before succeeding.Following her successful registration, Foster began teaching other African Americans how to pass the tests used to bar them. One person showed up to her first class, in which she taught the 70-year-old man how to write his own name. Gradually, the classes drew more and more people.As the Civil Rights Movement grew, Foster became an organizer for the Dallas County area. She participated in the march on March 7, 1965. Mrs. Foster was at the front of one of the lines along with Amelia Boynton, and was clubbed by a state trooper. READ MORE >>
