A signature initiative of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that speaks directly to our pillar of Legacy and the call to lead with Legacy, Leadership, and Love. Through this program, SCLC travels to select cities and sponsors a weekend of activities that help communities remember their unique and rich histories and their part in the advancement of civil rights and social justice. Each re-MEMBER weekend is rooted in storytelling, reflection, worship, and community engagement, designed to lift up the people, places, and decisions that shaped local movements while connecting them to the ongoing struggle for justice today.
This initiative centers key moments and cities that are especially close to SCLC, creating a living map of the movement and its lessons for today:
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- Selma, Alabama (Bloody Sunday) – Honors the courage of the marchers who crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge and helped secure passage of the Voting Rights Act.
- Memphis, Tennessee (April 4) – Remembers the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and calls us to carry forward his unfinished work for justice and peace.
- New Orleans, Louisiana (February 14) – Marks the founding and anniversary of SCLC by a group of pastors who organized a national effort to redeem the soul of America.
- Birmingham, Alabama – Lifts up the campaigns that exposed the brutality of segregation and moved the conscience of the nation.
- Montgomery, Alabama – Returns to the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement and the bus boycott that showed the power of organized, disciplined nonviolence.
- St Augustine, Florida – Recalls the campaigns that helped push forward the Civil Rights Act and challenged entrenched segregation.
- Nashville, Tennessee (Sounds and Soul of Nashville) – Celebrates the student led movement and lunch counter campaigns that are especially close to SCLC Chairman Dr. Bernard Lafayette and continue to inspire new generations.
The program is designed to be flexible and dynamic, able to meet the specific needs and stories of each city while giving SCLC a flagship platform for Legacy centered programming. By lifting up Selma, Memphis, New Orleans, Birmingham, Montgomery, St Augustine, Nashville, and other historic centers of action, re-MEMBER the Movement keeps SCLC’ s story alive in ways that are visible and actionable. In every place we go, we invite communities to remember, to reclaim their history, and to join SCLC in the ongoing work of justice, reconciliation, and the Beloved Community.
