Fran Hoffman, 71
Location: Mystic, CT
Interview facilitated by Greg Gilmartin and Dean Rocha from MYSTV Studios
In 1965, Fran Hoffman was a senior at Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio. Thanks to her parents' dedicated involvement in the civil rights movement, Fran knew what was happening in the civil rights movement and wanted to join the marches from Selma, Alabama, to the State Capitol in Montgomery. Joined by her classmates, her father, dignitaries from her father's church and Atlanta civil rights leaders, Fran jumped into the struggle. Was she worried about the risk?
"I was a bit afraid, but again, I had the family history of being involved in this kind of stuff," she said. "And knowing that it's important to take risks when it is important, you just do it. You just do it. And so the fear was there, the recognition that bad things could happen. I think subliminally there was a belief that that's not going to happen to me."
The fear, however, dissipated the moment they arrived at in Selma. "You were caught in the moment and you knew that history was being made there," Fran said.
Watch as Fran details what it was like to be in Selma during the final, history-making march.
Hear more stories from people who were at the ground level of the civil rights marches
