Youngest 'Bloody Sunday' participant says meeting Dr. King was the best thing that could have happened to her

Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Sheyann Webb Christburg
View of Civil Rights marchers on a median at the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the first Selma to Montgomery March, Selma, Alabama, March 7, 1965. Moments later, armed police officers fired tear gas into the area. The violence that ensued led to the event being known as 'Bloody Sunday. Photo credit Charles Moore/Getty Images

Sheyann Webb-Christburg says meeting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the best thing that could have ever happened to her.

She was 8 year old Sheyann Webb when she met the Civil Rights leader in Selma, Al. Webb was the youngest participant in "Bloody Sunday" among those beaten by a mob at the Edmund Pettis Bridge on March 7, 1965. "Being in his presence has impacted my life in a most profound way." She adds that meeting King gave her a "different drive, a different spirit, that made me know that, though I was a poor little girl, I mattered." Webb-Christburg says that's that's message she gives to young people today.

Why did Webb-Christburg continue crossing the bridge for Voting Rights?

What message does Webb-Christburg have for those fighting for Voting Rights today?

Click below for full interview with Sheyann Webb-Christburg

Webb-Christburg utilizes her website and book "Selma, Lord Selma: Girlhood Memories of the Civil Rights Days" to continue to spread the message of the little girl who became known as Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Smallest Freedom Fighter".

Featured Image Photo Credit: Charles Moore/Getty Images