“The Life and Times of Civil Rights Activist Mamie King-­‐Chalmers” My life has been a struggle. With faith, I will continue to press toward good until the work is done. When Dr. King gave us our marching orders at the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, he told us we might get kicked, we might get spit on, but tell the person who is doing that I still love you. If we can get the younger people to see what we fought for 50 years ago to get the 1965 Voting Rights Act signed into law, I think they will understand. ~ Mamie King Chalmers. Mamie King-­‐Chalmers of Detroit was born and reared in segregated Birmingham, Alabama to hard working parents on June 19, 1941. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Birmingham in 1963 to organize and protest against bombings and segregated injustices perpetrated upon blacks, Mamie King and her entire family went to meet the man with their same last name. His passionate call for justice motivated the family to join the Children’s Crusade. As a frontline solider for the Civil Rights Movement, Ms. King was sprayed by fire hoses, attacked by police dogs and jailed. Ms. King eventually lost hearing in her right ear from the high-­‐pressure water hoses. Ms. King’s first assignment in 1963 resulted in a six-­‐day jail confinement for demanding service at the Bohemian Bakery where blacks were not served. Upon release, she immediately joined the Justice and Equality March at Kelly Ingram Park across from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Eugene “Bull” Connor, Birmingham’s Commissioner of Public Safety supervised the police and fire chiefs. As he ordered them to release vicious police dogs and blast high-­‐powered fire water hoses upon Mamie King, Connor publicly announced that the ni**er protesters would not have to take a bath after being sprayed down by the water hoses. He became famous for using these vicious tactics against defenseless civil rights demonstrators. Documenting these crimes against humanity, famed photographer, Charles Moore, took this iconic photo of Ms. King being hosed and pinned against the wall with two unidentified young black men during the march. It was featured in Time Magazine (then Life Magazine) on May 3, 1963. This image of Ms. King being brutally sprayed with a high-­‐pressure fire hose shocked the nation and helped accelerate the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This iconic photo also persuaded Birmingham’s officials to pardoned Ms. King in 1968 for protesting instead of sentencing her for two to ten years in prison. Injured, but not defeated, Mamie King-­‐Chalmers went on to receive her associate degree in gerontology. Throughout her life, she was and continues to be an agent for change. Driven by a commitment to get younger people to see what she and others fought for to get the 1965 Voting Rights Act signed into law, she is an active voter registrar who volunteers for countless initiatives. She is involved in many organizations and has served as president for the Berry King Scholarship Fund, Sankofa Travel, the Detroit chapter of the Western/Jackson-­‐Olin Alumni Association, and the King-­‐Gill Genealogical Study Group. Ms. King Chalmers also organized the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington Detroit Walk. The following elected officials from her home state of Alabama and her current residence in Michigan recognized Ms. King-­‐Chalmers: U.S. Senator Carl Levin, County Commissioner Martha Scott, U.S. Congressmen John Conyers and Gary Peters. In 2013, Birmingham’s Mayor, William Bell, and City Council officially honored her. Ms. King-­‐Chalmers has 9 children, one of whom, Lasuria Allman, wrote her mother’s story, “Her Stolen Pride: The Life and Times of Civil Rights Activist Mamie King-­‐Chalmers.” She has 22 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild.