Explore the Collection
This page features a selection of materials from the Sisters of Selma documentary archives, including clips of never-before-seen interviews, personal correspondence, and photographs available through our blog posts. These materials offer a glimpse into the story of the sisters and the 1965 Selma voting rights march.
These digital resources represent only a portion of the full collection. The Carondelet Consolidated Archives house a wealth of additional materials, including documents, photographs, and recordings, available for research and exploration in person.
To learn more about accessing the complete archives or to schedule a visit, please contact us.
Selma Stories
Posts
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A Walk in Selma
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I’m Always Glad I Went to Selma
During her time at Selma, S. Mary Paul was the head of the Saint Elizabeth’s School. She had started as a teacher but was promoted to Principal of the school not long after. She was also Superior of the convent, home to Sisters of St. Joseph who taught in the…
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Letters from Selma
S. Mary Paul Geck reads a letter that she wrote as principal at the St. Elizabeth’s School in Selma to the sisters back in Rochester. She wrote the letter as a way to keep the people up north updated on how things were going. She details the situation in Selma:…
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Moving Beyond Selma
Other Sister Protests and Movements The 1960s and 1970s marked a radical shift in the lives of many Catholic sisters. No longer confined to traditional roles in parochial schools or congregational hospitals, women religious began redirecting their skills toward the most urgent social issues of the time. These “new nuns,”…
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We Shall Overcome
We Shall Overcome is a celebrated song with origins from the gospel hymn by Rev. Charles Albert Tindley in 1901. Tindley also wrote “Stand By Me”. We SHall Overcome has a long history being used as a form of protest, an act of civil disobedience. Tobacco workers in the late…
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Interview With KMOX
In March 1965, the nation watched in horror as peaceful civil rights protesters in Selma, Alabama, were brutally attacked on “Bloody Sunday.” In response to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call for support, six Catholic nuns—including S. Roberta Schmidt (S. Ernest Marie) and S. Rosemary Flanigan (S. Thomas Marguerite) of…
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She is Our Hope for the Future
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In Their Own Words: Oral Histories About Selma
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Bloody Sunday
On March 7, 1965, a day that would become known as Bloody Sunday, peaceful civil rights demonstrators were brutally attacked by Alabama state troopers as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The marchers, led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, were advocating for voting rights…
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From St. Louis to Selma
Introduction In March 1965, following the violent events of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called on religious leaders and clergy to join him in the fight for voting rights and racial justice. Among those who answered the call were four courageous Catholic sisters from St. Louis: Sister Roberta…