Sheyann Webb-Christburg

Sheyann Webb-Christburg is a civil rights activist, author and youth advocate nationally recognized for “Selma, Lord, Selma: Girlhood Memories of the Civil Rights Days,” which she co-authored with Rachel West Nelson and Frank Sikora. Published in 1980, the story chronicles Webb-Christburg’s experiences as the youngest participant in the Selma-to-Montgomery “Bloody Sunday” march and memories with the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jonathan Daniels, Viola Liuzzo, Rev. James Reed and other civil rights leaders during that time. The film adaptation, which was by Walt Disney Television and premiered on ABC in January 1999, was nominated as the Best Television Mini Series by the NAACP Image Awards.

Webb-Christburg was born on Feb. 17, 1956, in Selma, Alabama in a family of eight children. At eight years old, she would sneak out of her house to attend mass meetings in the Selma movement. She led the congregation in singing freedom songs. Her favorite was “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.” She attended many demonstrations and protests for freedom and American voting rights.

She attended a segregated public school in Dallas County, Alabama until junior high, when she became one of the first Blacks to integrate an all-white school. Webb-Christburg marks her junior high years as among her most traumatic. She faced racial brutality daily, was suspended from school, pushed down stairs, spat on, and attacked various other ways both physically and verbally for the color of her skin; and nothing was done by the school administration.

Because of Webb-Christburg’s numerous encounters with racism and poverty, for more than 40 years she has helped thousands of youth in America gain the confidence they needed to break out of non-productive patterns and reach for success. In 1980, shortly after graduating from Tuskegee University to pursue social work, she founded KEEP Productions — a youth development and modeling program to motivate young people to become better leaders of tomorrow, build self-esteem and confidence, overcome adversity, and find their true purpose.