George Washington Carver Homes, Selma
The George Washington Carver Homes were built in the 1940s as segregated public housing for Black residents of Selma. The complex sat directly adjacent to Brown Chapel AME Church — the church that served as the command center of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Campaign. It was in this complex, at apartment 313E, that Alice West raised her eleven children.
When the movement came to Selma in 1965, the West family home became what civil rights veterans have called "the Second Freedom House" — the unofficial safe house where movement workers could sleep, eat, plan, and find safety in a city under intense police surveillance and Klan threat. The first Freedom House was the official SNCC office; the West home was the unofficial one, sustained entirely by Alice's generosity, courage, and faith.
Rachel West Nelson, Alice's daughter, described the family's decision in her 1985 Eyes on the Prize oral history interview: "My parents opened their home to the movement." She recalled the constant stream of visitors — some famous, some unknown — who came through their door, slept on their floors, and ate at their table.
George Washington Carver Homes, Selma — Alice West's home and the Second Freedom House of the 1965 civil rights campaign
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama Historical Marker at George Washington Carver Homes
"A Station on the Underground Railroad"
"My first night in Selma, 1965, I slept on a pew in Brown Chapel. The next day, one of Alice & Lonzo West's dozen children (activists all) led me by the hand across the muddy yard to their apartment in the Carver Housing project. There I met Mrs. Alice West, the indomitable matriarch of a Movement family and matron of an unofficial freedom house. Freedom fighters passed through, stayed overnight, and crashed on the floor. At times it seemed like a station on the underground railroad of 1865. For the next couple of weeks I slept atop their side-by-side washer-dryer in my old sleeping bag."
"Mrs. West immediately sat me down in the kitchen at their well-used formica table, put a mug of coffee in my hand, and gently (but thoroughly) verbally confirmed the Movement credentials of this unknown (but welcome) white stranger. She then proceeded to brief me on the police occupation and warned me about local danger spots to carefully avoid — like the block on Washington Street where the Silver Moon Cafe was located. It was a known Klan hangout and where the KKK thugs who murdered Rev. Reeb were lurking when he walked past."
"I so well remember the night the living room was jam-packed as we all listened to LBJ's presidential address to the nation where he spoke the Movement slogan, 'We Shall Overcome,' and we knew then that a voting-rights victory was finally on the horizon."— Bruce Hartford, Civil Rights Movement Veterans Archive, 2023CRMVET — Memorial for Alice West
Brown Chapel AME Church — directly adjacent to the Carver Homes, the spiritual and logistical heart of the 1965 campaign
Historical photograph
Alice Martin West — official portrait, 2023
Randall Miller Funeral Service
Eyes on the Prize — Rachel West Nelson Interview
On December 6, 1985, Rachel West Nelson — Alice and Lonzy West's daughter — was interviewed for the landmark PBS documentary series Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, produced by Henry Hampton and Blackside, Inc. The interview is archived at Washington University in St. Louis and is one of the most important primary sources on the West family's role in the Selma campaign.
In the interview, Rachel described the West home as the gathering place for the movement's leaders, the constant stream of visitors, and the courage it took for her parents to open their door. She described Jonathan Daniels as "just like one of the family" and recalled the grief that followed his murder.
"My parents opened their home to the movement. We had people sleeping on the floor, on the couch, everywhere. John Lewis, Stokely Carmichael, Andrew Young — they all came through our house. My mother fed them all. She never turned anyone away."— Rachel West Nelson, Eyes on the Prize, December 6, 1985
Eyes on the Prize (1987) is widely considered the definitive documentary of the American civil rights movement. The oral history interviews conducted for the series — including Rachel West Nelson's — are archived at Washington University in St. Louis and are among the most important primary sources on the movement. Rachel West Nelson's interview was conducted on December 6, 1985, in Selma, Alabama.
Rachel West Nelson co-authored Selma, Lord, Selma: Girlhood Memories of the Civil-Rights Days (1979) with Sheyann Webb, her childhood neighbor in the Carver Homes. The book tells the story of the movement through the eyes of two young girls who grew up in the West and Webb families. It was adapted into a Disney television film in 1999.
University of Alabama PressThose Who Passed Through the West Home
The following individuals are documented — through oral histories, memoirs, and archival records — as having stayed at or visited the West family home in the Carver Homes during the 1965 Selma campaign.
Marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday. Later called Alice West a 'saint of the movement.'
Lived with the West family for months in 1965. Killed August 20, 1965, shielding Ruby Sales from a shotgun blast. Recognized as a martyr by the Episcopal Church.
Stayed at the West home while organizing in Selma. Later coined the phrase 'Black Power.'
Stayed at the West home during the Selma campaign.
Stayed at the West home. Later recalled the family's extraordinary hospitality and courage.
Stayed at the West home during the Selma campaign.
Stayed at the West home. Orange was a key organizer of the Selma campaign.
Architect of the Selma campaign and the Selma-to-Montgomery March. He and his wife Diane Nash and baby Sherilyn stayed upstairs in the West home.
Co-founder of SNCC and key strategist of the civil rights movement, stayed at the West home with her husband James Bevel.
Williams led the march on Bloody Sunday alongside John Lewis. He stayed at the West home.
Gregory used his celebrity to draw attention to the Selma campaign. He stayed at the West home.
Hartford slept on the West family's washer-dryer in his sleeping bag. He later wrote the most detailed first-hand tribute to Alice West as 'the indomitable matriarch of a Movement family.'
Jonathan Myrick Daniels (1939–1965) — Episcopal seminary student who lived with the West family in Selma
Episcopal Church Archives — public domain
Jonathan Daniels: Part of the Family
Of all the people who passed through the West home, none left a deeper mark than Jonathan Myrick Daniels — a 26-year-old white Episcopal seminary student from Keene, New Hampshire, who answered Dr. King's call for clergy to come to Selma after Bloody Sunday. Daniels and his colleague Judith Upham stayed with the West family in the spring and summer of 1965.
Daniels tutored the West children, helped families apply for government assistance, and worked tirelessly for voting rights. On August 20, 1965, he was shot and killed in Hayneville, Alabama, while shielding 17-year-old Ruby Sales from a shotgun blast. He was 26 years old.
"Jon Daniels was a part of my family, we all loved him and trusted him. He taught my family all about the wonders of God's love. His death took a toll on my family as well as all the Black people in Selma, AL."— Alice Martin West
"In 1965, after Dr. King, SCLC, and SNCC came to Selma, my husband, my family, and I made our home welcome to all 'outside agitators' as they were called. We sheltered them, fed them, and prayed with them. They were our brothers and sisters in the struggle."— Alice Martin West
Alice and Lonzy West — the couple who opened their home to the movement
Family photograph — primary historical document