Lincoln Normal School Campus and Museum

In the aftermath of the Civil War, a group of nine, the Marion Nine, former enslaved African American men, embarked on a mission to transform the lives of freedmen through education. In 1867, these men, driven by an unyielding commitment to uplift their community, incorporated the Lincoln Normal School in Marion, Alabama. Their efforts were bolstered by the American Missionary Association (AMA), a key ally in the struggle for educational equality.  Lincoln would educate African American children for over a hundred years, including notable Alumni Mr. William Pettiford, Mr. Albert Turner, and Mrs. Coretta Scott King.  In February 1965, students from Lincoln Normal School begin protesting the unjust treatment of Blacks in the community.  Several students were arrested, along with Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s James Orange, one of the organizers of the student protests.  Community members and students from Lincoln Normal School, would meet on February 18, 1965 to march to the Perry County Jail in support of Mr. Orange.  Shortly after the march was started the marchers were attacked by an angry mob, in the resulting chaos Lincoln graduate and Army Veteran Mr. Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot, he would later die.  Mr. Jackson’s death spurred over 4oo Foot Soldiers, many from Lincoln Normal School, on the first attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery on March 7, 1965, a day we now call, Bloody Sunday.