St. Bonaventure University

The university will host two upcoming programs that explore the 1965 civil rights marches from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital in Montgomery, that protested the denial of voting rights to African Americans.

On Tuesday, Feb. 11, Sr. Barbara Lum, S.S.J., will share stories of her time as a nurse who cared for those injured in the March 7, 1965, march that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” The following Tuesday, Feb. 18, the movie “Selma” will be shown.

Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally desegregated the South, discrimination was still rampant in certain areas, making it very difficult for Blacks to register to vote.

As a Catholic Sister of St. Joseph of Rochester and a registered nurse, Sr. Lum was “privileged and forever influenced” by her work at the Sisters of St. Joseph Good Samaritan Hospital in Selma from 1958 to 1968, admitting patients of color from several surrounding counties when other hospitals would not admit Black patients.

Good Samaritan sisters and staff cared for those beaten by state troopers and sheriff’s deputies who interrupted the peaceful marchers as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. When demonstrators did not promptly obey the officers’ order to disband and turn back, they were brutally attacked.

Sr. Lum’s other nursing positions include Good Samaritan School of Practical Nursing in Selma, St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in Elmira, New York, University of Rochester Nursing and Nurse Practitioner program, and Rochester Educational Opportunity Center.

She now lives at St. Boniface Convent in Rochester, where she and two other sisters share life with four college students and offer week-long live-in service programs for high school and college students.

Sr. Lum volunteers at St. Joseph’s Northside Center in Rochester, a neighborhood she describes as much affected by drugs, mental illness, prostitution and violence. As a drop-in ministry of her order, guests are offered a hot breakfast, welcome and assistance with essentials of clothing and toiletries.

Sr. Lum’s Feb. 11 program will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Great Room of University Ministries.

The movie “Selma” will be shown Tuesday, Feb. 18, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in University Ministries. Refreshments will be served.

“Selma” chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement.

Both February events are sponsored by University Ministries and the Equity Institute. All faculty, staff and students are invited.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).