In January 2000, Barack Obama made history when he became the first black man to take the office of President of the United States of America. It was a momentous and remarkable occasion — and all the more so because when he was born in 1961, many black Americans couldn’t even vote, yet alone imagine that the country would one day have a black president.

It is hard for younger generations outside the USA to comprehend that as recently as 50 years ago, not only were many black Americans denied the right to vote; they were also prevented from shopping in many stores which had implemented “whites only” policies.

The civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. encouraged people to join in protests in Alabama, one of the places most affected by racial segregation. He organized marches from the town of Selma to Montgomery, the state capitol.

One of the people who took up Dr. King’s call was Jonathan Daniels — a seminarian at the Episcopal Theological School (ETS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Read the article “50 Years Ago, White Seminarian Jonathan Daniels was Martyred for Black Rights” on anglicannews.org.