Ala. congresswoman invites voting rights activist, 103, to hear President Obama’s address

SELMA, Ala. – A 103-year-old voting rights activist who was beaten during an attempted march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma is attending the State of the Union address in Washington.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell said in a release that she invited Amelia Boynton Robinson to Washington as her special guest for President Barack Obama’s address Tuesday night. Sewell says Boynton’s role in the march is captured in the movie “Selma,” and she made history in 1964 as the first African American in Alabama to run for Congress. Boynton was born in Savannah, Georgia.

Boynton said in a release that she feels a special bond with Sewell, who is the state’s first elected African-American congresswoman. Sewell says Boynton paved the way for her achievements.