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Local Nun Recalls Treating Victims of Bloody Sunday March

Sister Barbara Lum at Good Samaritan Hospital Nursing Home in Selma, Alabama
Credit Sisters of St. Joseph - Sister Barbara Lum
Sister Barbara Lum at Good Samaritan Hospital Nursing Home in Selma, Alabama

It has been nearly 50 years since a series of marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama led to the historic passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Hundreds of African Americans made the 54 mile journey to defy segregationist repression against their attempts to register to vote. 

A Catholic nun serving with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester was sent to work at Good Samaritan Hospital from 1959 to 1968.  It was the only hospital in nine Alabama counties that served blacks.  

Click on the audio link above to hear an interview with Sr. Barbara Lum. She still serves with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester today, teaching home health care aides.

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.