Bettie Mae Fikes (born 1948) also known as The Voice of Selma, [1] is an American singer and civil rights activist.
Born in Selma, Alabama in 1948, she began singing at the age of four. [2] Fikes was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom Singers, [3] and became known as "the Voice of Selma". [4] She was jailed as a teenager in 1963 for her participation in a Selma protest and was also involved in Bloody Sunday in 1965. [5] Her new lyrics for " This Little Light of Mine" and other songs became particularly known.[ citation needed] She performed at both the 1964 Democratic National Convention and the 2004 Democratic National Convention.[ citation needed] In 2020, she sang at the funeral services for John Lewis, which she indicated might be her final public performance. [6]