The Nun Who Witnessed the Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr

AI painting of Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King Jr. was a visionary leader whose unwavering commitment to justice and equality transformed the fight for civil rights in America.

In the struggle for civil rights, the courage of Sister Mary Antona Ebo stands as a shining example of how faith can inspire action against injustice. Her commitment to justice, rooted in her Catholic faith, led her to join civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the historic 1965 Selma march—a moment that forever intertwined her legacy with the fight for racial equality.

“I’m here because I’m a Negro, a nun, a Catholic, and because I want to bear witness,” Sister Mary Antona Ebo declared during a protest on March 10, 1965, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

This protest came just days after the infamous “Bloody Sunday,” when peaceful demonstrators were brutally attacked by police on Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Many suffered severe injuries, and their courage galvanized national attention to the voting rights movement.

Dr. King’s call for clergy from across the nation to come to Selma was answered by leaders of many faiths. Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter of St. Louis responded by asking his archdiocese’s human rights commission to send representatives. Among the 50-person delegation were laypeople, priests, rabbis, Protestant ministers, and five white nuns. Sister Ebo, the only Black nun in the group, felt the weight of the moment. “If they would beat a white minister to death on the streets of Selma, what are they going to do when I show up?” she recounted, reflecting on her fears (St. Louis Review).

At Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, she saw the determination of demonstrators who had suffered at the hands of authorities just days earlier. “They had bandages on their heads, teeth were knocked out, crutches, casts on their arms,” Sister Ebo said. “They had already been through the battleground, and they were still wanting to go back and finish the job” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Leading the march alongside local leaders, Sister Ebo prayed with the demonstrators as they faced state troopers in riot gear. Despite the obstacles, the Selma movement culminated in the successful 57-mile march to Montgomery, where Dr. King delivered his iconic “How long? Not long” speech, a declaration of hope and perseverance.

The courage of Catholic leaders during the civil rights movement extended beyond the streets of Selma. Tragically, just three years later, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He had specifically requested to be taken to a Catholic hospital if anything happened to him. According to The Paper of Montgomery County Online, he was brought to St. Joseph Hospital, a nursing school and hospital run by the Franciscan Sisters.

Sister Jane Marie Klein and Sister Anna Marie Hofmeyer, who were present that night, recalled being allowed into the emergency room to pray with King after he had been pronounced dead. “Who would have ever thought that we would be that privileged?” Sister Klein later reflected. “You do what you got to do” (The Paper of Montgomery County Online).

Sister Mary Antona Ebo’s faith continued to guide her long after Selma. She helped found the National Black Sisters’ Conference in 1968 and served as a hospital administrator and chaplain. Her advocacy extended to contemporary issues of racial justice, including leading a prayer vigil in Ferguson, Missouri, after the killing of Michael Brown in 2014. “It’s not the policeman’s place to shoot him dead,” she said, drawing parallels between Ferguson and Selma (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Sister Ebo passed away on November 11, 2017, at the age of 93. Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis, who presided over her requiem Mass, remarked, “We will miss her living example of working for justice in the context of our Catholic faith” (St. Louis Review).

Sister Mary Antona Ebo’s story reminds us that the call to justice is intrinsic to Catholic faith. Her bravery in Selma, her lifelong commitment to racial equality, and her unwavering trust in God’s providence illuminate how faith can be a powerful force for change. Let us draw inspiration from her witness and continue to work toward a world where the dignity of every human person is recognized and upheld.

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