Joanne Bland, a noted Civil Rights activist who helped create Selma’s Foot Soldiers Park, dies at 72

Bland helped found the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute and later co-founded Foot Soldiers Park as a monument to Civil Rights activism and beyond.

A beloved member of the Selma, Alabama, community has passed away.

Joanne Bland, who participated in marches since she was a little girl, including Bloody Sunday as a child foot soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, died Thursday (Feb. 19) at the age of 72.

Her family shared a statement saying Bland “departed this life surrounded by love,” and left behind a legacy defined by “strength, grace and unwavering dedication to her family and community.”

No funeral arrangements or cause of death have been revealed.

Bland, who said she’d been arrested “more than 13 times” by the time she reached age 11, used the influence she gained from her time marching alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and others to dedicate her life to activism. In 1989, she co-founded the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute and later helped forge Foot Soldiers Park, an initiative designed to preserve and educate visitors about the history of Selma and to inspire future generations of activists.

“As I lead groups through Selma now, on the trail of the foot soldiers of 1965, we see clearly the connections between our history and our current reality with ongoing voter suppression and racial inequities. But we can all take action that makes a difference,” Bland once said.

Several organizations released statements in light of Bland’s death. Selma Mayor Johnny Moss III said, “Selma lost one of her greatest daughters” with Bland’s passing.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell echoed those sentiments.

“I am heartbroken to learn of the passing of Ms. JoAnne Bland – a freedom fighter and daughter of Selma, Alabama,” Sewell said. ”It was Foot Soldiers like JoAnne who put their lives and freedom on the line for the right of all Americans to vote.”