Help preserve the house that supported the movement.

Our sacred, historical places are worthy of preservation.

There is a heated debate happening currently in cities across the American South about the continued existence of and reverence to monuments honoring the Confederacy. History is skewed by those who write it -- as time goes on, we remember only what those with the privilege of writing history tell us to. Too often, that history marginalizes and diminishes the history of African Americans. The restoration and preservation of the Boynton Home will correct and update one small but significant piece of history and communicate to future generations the importance of 1315 Lapsley Street, and the people who lived and worked there, to the rights and freedoms we all enjoy today.

It’s long past time we celebrated the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement.

Amelia Boynton and other local leaders of the voting rights campaign in Selma -- the Courageous Eight, leaders of the Dallas County Voters League -- laid the groundwork for a significant civil rights victory in Selma, long before organizers from SNCC or Martin Luther King’s SCLC selected the city as the site of a formal voting rights campaign. Without their work and sacrifice over the years to engage and empower local people, the 1965 campaign -- including Bloody Sunday, which galvanized the nation and President Johnson, and the three-day peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery -- would not have been possible.

The Boynton home can impart valuable lessons to today’s young people.

Amelia Boynton believed in young people. She mentored them, fed them, gave them jobs, encouraged them to fight for their rights and believed in their power. The Boynton home, once restored, will help to establish Amelia Boynton as an icon of the Civil Rights Movement. Preserving her story -- and all the history that happened under the roof of 1315 Lapsley Street – will bestow an important lesson upon younger generations: the idea that young people, through grit and hard work and belief, can make a positive difference in this world, no matter the challenges they face. That belief is one of Amelia’s lasting legacies.