Civil Rights activist and life-long resident of Selma, Alabama, JoAnne Bland will present the
keynote address for the 23rd annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast hosted by the Centerville
Washington Diversity Council. Her topic on January 20, 2025, will be “Growing Up in the
Segregated South”.
As an eight-year-old, Ms. Bland and her sister accompanied their grandmother to a meeting of
the local Voters League - the beginning of a lifetime of involvement in the Civil Rights
Movement and the struggle for voting rights.
By the time she was eleven years old, she had been arrested and documented thirteen times,
and in 1965, she participated in the infamous “Bloody Sunday” March in Selma.
In later life, Ms. Bland was a co-founder of the Voting Rights Museum located near the Edmund
Pettus Bridge. After leaving the museum in 2007, she founded Journeys for the Soul.
Though this touring agency is headquartered in Alabama, Ms. Bland shares with people of all
ages the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the story of the fight for voting rights from a
first-person perspective.
According to Ms. Bland, “Movements for social change are like jigsaw puzzles. Everyone is a
piece. If your piece is missing, the picture is not complete.”
The annual breakfast, made possible by generous community sponsors, will take place at 7:30
AM at the Golf Club at Yankee Trace. Tickets are $25 and will be available in early December
through a link on the Council’s website.
The mission of the Centerville-Washington Diversity Council is to celebrate and promote an
inclusive, diverse, and welcoming community for people who live, work, and worship in
Centerville and Washington Township.
Information about the council is available at www.cwtdiversity.org and on Facebook and
Instagram or by contacting Jason Riley, Council Chair, at cwdcchair@gmail.com.
If you missed this year's event, no worries! Thanks to the Miami Valley Communications Council, you can watch it here:
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