Sisters of Selma: Bearing Witness for Change, the powerful 2007 documentary featuring Rochester SSJs, can now be viewed free of charge on the website of Avila University.
Five of our Sisters (Sisters Barbara Lum, Mary Paul Geck, Josepha Twomey, Mary Weaver, and Marie Albert Alderman) were interviewed for the film, recalling their work among Black families in Selma and the events of Bloody Sunday 1965, when they were called to extraordinary service caring for wounded voting rights marchers at Good Samaritan Hospital. Sisters from other Congregations around the country who came to Selma to join in the civil rights demonstrations are also profiled in the film.
The CSJ Heritage Center at Avila recently raised $75,000 to license the film in perpetuity and has made it available for streaming on its website: https://www.avila.edu/avila-archives/sisters-of-selma/. Our Congregation donated toward the project, which is part of Avila’s efforts to shine a light on the racial justice ministries of Catholic Sisters.