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Bland grew up in segregated Selma, Alabama, where she was not allowed to enter certain stores and was only allowed to go in the library and movie theater on days labeled "colored."[{{cite web |last1=bachmanne |title=Civil rights activist JoAnne Bland spreads message of hope |url=http://schoolpress.cshgreenwich.org/kingstreetchronicle/2017/01/18/civil-rights-activist-joanne-bland-spreads-message-hope/ |website=King Street Chronicle |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] As a result of growing up in segregation Bland lost her mother, who died in a "white" hospital waiting for a transfusion of "black blood."[{{cite web |last1=Cortez |first1=Marjorie |title=Civil rights activists urge Davis High students to know their history, stand up for others |url=https://www.deseret.com/2017/4/13/20610342/civil-rights-activists-urge-davis-high-students-to-know-their-history-stand-up-for-others/ |website=Deseret News Utah |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] Her grandmother encouraged Bland and her sister to march and become a freedom fighter to fight for their freedom, even though her father disapproved due to his fear for their lives.[{{cite web |last1=bachmanne |title=Civil rights activist JoAnne Bland spreads message of hope |url=http://schoolpress.cshgreenwich.org/kingstreetchronicle/2017/01/18/civil-rights-activist-joanne-bland-spreads-message-hope/ |website=King Street Chronicles |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] Her father's objections did not stop Bland, who became active in the movement when she was eight years old.[{{cite web |last1=Gee |first1=Denise |title=SMU celebrates human rights heroes and the anniversary of its Civil Rights Pilgrimage on Thursday, April 10, 2014 |url=https://blog.smu.edu/forum/tag/joanne-bland/ |website=SMU World Changers Made Here |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] When she was eight years old, she attended a meeting with the Dallas County Voters League with her grandmother.[{{cite web |last1=Noltner |first1=John |title=JoAnne Bland |url=https://apomm.net/2017/02/10/joanne-bland/ |website=A Peace of my Mind |date=February 10, 2017 |access-date=May 28, 2019}}] |
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Bland grew up in segregated Selma, Alabama, where she was not allowed to enter certain stores and was only allowed to go in the library and movie theater on days labeled "colored".[{{cite web |last1=bachmanne |title=Civil rights activist JoAnne Bland spreads message of hope |url=http://schoolpress.cshgreenwich.org/kingstreetchronicle/2017/01/18/civil-rights-activist-joanne-bland-spreads-message-hope/ |website=King Street Chronicle |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] As a result of growing up in segregation Bland lost her mother, who died in a "white" hospital waiting for a transfusion of "black blood".[{{cite web |last1=Cortez |first1=Marjorie |title=Civil rights activists urge Davis High students to know their history, stand up for others |url=https://www.deseret.com/2017/4/13/20610342/civil-rights-activists-urge-davis-high-students-to-know-their-history-stand-up-for-others/ |website=Deseret News Utah |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] Her grandmother encouraged Bland and her sister to march and become a freedom fighter to fight for their freedom, even though her father disapproved due to his fear for their lives.[{{cite web |last1=bachmanne |title=Civil rights activist JoAnne Bland spreads message of hope |url=http://schoolpress.cshgreenwich.org/kingstreetchronicle/2017/01/18/civil-rights-activist-joanne-bland-spreads-message-hope/ |website=King Street Chronicles |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] Her father's objections did not stop Bland, who became active in the movement when she was eight years old.[{{cite web |last1=Gee |first1=Denise |title=SMU celebrates human rights heroes and the anniversary of its Civil Rights Pilgrimage on Thursday, April 10, 2014 |url=https://blog.smu.edu/forum/tag/joanne-bland/ |website=SMU World Changers Made Here |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] When she was eight years old, she attended a meeting with the Dallas County Voters League with her grandmother.[{{cite web |last1=Noltner |first1=John |title=JoAnne Bland |url=https://apomm.net/2017/02/10/joanne-bland/ |website=A Peace of my Mind |date=February 10, 2017 |access-date=May 28, 2019}}] |
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Bland began her activism in 1961, attending a freedom and voters' rights meeting presided over by [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] The [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) members active in Selma organized local teenagers to participate in the movement, including marching on [[Bloody Sunday (1965)|"Bloody Sunday"]] and [[Bloody Sunday (1965)|"Turn Around Tuesday"]].[{{Cite web|url=https://www.gastongazette.com/entertainmentlife/20190301/reflecting-on-legacy-of-freedom-tour|title=Reflecting on the 'Legacy of Freedom' tour|website=Gaston Gazette|language=en|access-date=March 9, 2019}}] On "Bloody Sunday", March 7, 1965, Bland witnessed fellow activists being beaten by the police and Alabama State Troopers.[{{cite web|url=http://www.ganzelgroup.com/ph37.html|title=JoAnne Bland|publisher=Ganzel Group, Inc.|access-date=January 28, 2012}}] By the time she was 11 years old, Bland had been arrested and documented 13 times.[{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@bfinn11/the-good-freedom-part-two-an-interview-with-joanne-bland-259e77137ebc|title="THE GOOD FREEDOM, Part Two." An interview with JoAnne Bland.|last=Finn|first=Billy|date=October 13, 2018|website=Medium|access-date=March 9, 2019}}] Bland's first time being arrested was when she was eight years old at the beginning of her activism.[{{cite web |title=O-D-ing on the N-word |url=https://civilrightsfreedomtour2013.wordpress.com/page/3/ |website=Civil Rights Freedom Tour 2013 |access-date=June 4, 2019}}] During the march while Bland witnessed people being beaten, they could not get away from police as they moved in from the sides, back, and front.[{{cite web |title=JoAnne Bland "Selma: Turning Point for the Church" |url=http://sixtiessurvivors.org/bland.html |website=Sixties Survivors |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] Bland's sister, Lynda Blackmon Lowery, was the youngest person that participated in the march, she was 14 years old at that time. Lowery saw people putting Bland in the back of a white car and she thought her sister was dead, but when she got to the car, she soon realized that Bland just fainted. When Bland woke up, she could feel her sister's blood dripping on her face from being hit on the head many times.[{{cite book |last1=Blackmon Lowery |first1=Lynda |title=Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement |date=January 8, 2015 |publisher=Dial |isbn=978-0-8037-4123-2}}][{{Cite AV media|title=Soundtrack for a Revolution: Freedom Songs from the Civil Rights Era|last=Guttentag|first=Bill|type=Film|publisher=Freedom Songs Production|year=2009}}] Bland helped protect white Northerners who chose to participant in the march, they included ministers and college students.[{{cite web |title=Event held 16 days after Martin Luther King Day to draw in student attendance |url=https://www.spectatornews.com/currents/2019/02/12/campus-celebrates-martin-luther-king-jr/ |website=The Spectator |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] Bland was one of seven black students who integrated A. G. Parish High School in Alabama.[{{cite web |title=JoAnne Bland |url=https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakers/422671/Joanne-Bland |website=AAE |access-date=June 4, 2019}}][{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Sarah |title=RACIAL JUSTICE PILGRIMAGE: DAY 3 |url=http://www.phpc.org/phpc-blog/racial-justice-pilgrimage-day-3/ |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] |
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Bland began her activism in 1961, attending a freedom and voters' rights meeting presided over by [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] The [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) members active in Selma organized local teenagers to participate in the movement, including marching on [[Bloody Sunday (1965)|"Bloody Sunday"]] and [[Bloody Sunday (1965)|"Turn Around Tuesday"]].[{{Cite web|url=https://www.gastongazette.com/entertainmentlife/20190301/reflecting-on-legacy-of-freedom-tour|title=Reflecting on the 'Legacy of Freedom' tour|website=Gaston Gazette|language=en|access-date=March 9, 2019}}] On "Bloody Sunday", March 7, 1965, Bland witnessed fellow activists being beaten by the police and Alabama State Troopers.[{{cite web|url=http://www.ganzelgroup.com/ph37.html|title=JoAnne Bland|publisher=Ganzel Group, Inc.|access-date=January 28, 2012}}] By the time she was 11 years old, Bland had been arrested and documented 13 times.[{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@bfinn11/the-good-freedom-part-two-an-interview-with-joanne-bland-259e77137ebc|title="THE GOOD FREEDOM, Part Two." An interview with JoAnne Bland.|last=Finn|first=Billy|date=October 13, 2018|website=Medium|access-date=March 9, 2019}}] Bland's first time being arrested was when she was eight years old at the beginning of her activism.[{{cite web |title=O-D-ing on the N-word |url=https://civilrightsfreedomtour2013.wordpress.com/page/3/ |website=Civil Rights Freedom Tour 2013 |access-date=June 4, 2019}}] During the march while Bland witnessed people being beaten, they could not get away from police as they moved in from the sides, back, and front.[{{cite web |title=JoAnne Bland "Selma: Turning Point for the Church" |url=http://sixtiessurvivors.org/bland.html |website=Sixties Survivors |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] Bland's sister, Lynda Blackmon Lowery, was the youngest person that participated in the march, she was 14 years old at that time. Lowery saw people putting Bland in the back of a white car and she thought her sister was dead, but when she got to the car, she soon realized that Bland just fainted. When Bland woke up, she could feel her sister's blood dripping on her face from being hit on the head many times.[{{cite book |last1=Blackmon Lowery |first1=Lynda |title=Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement |date=January 8, 2015 |publisher=Dial |isbn=978-0-8037-4123-2}}][{{Cite AV media|title=Soundtrack for a Revolution: Freedom Songs from the Civil Rights Era|last=Guttentag|first=Bill|type=Film|publisher=Freedom Songs Production|year=2009}}] Bland helped protect white Northerners who chose to participant in the march, they included ministers and college students.[{{cite web |title=Event held 16 days after Martin Luther King Day to draw in student attendance |url=https://www.spectatornews.com/currents/2019/02/12/campus-celebrates-martin-luther-king-jr/ |website=The Spectator |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] Bland was one of seven black students who integrated A. G. Parish High School in Alabama.[{{cite web |title=JoAnne Bland |url=https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakers/422671/Joanne-Bland |website=AAE |access-date=June 4, 2019}}][{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Sarah |title=RACIAL JUSTICE PILGRIMAGE: DAY 3 |url=http://www.phpc.org/phpc-blog/racial-justice-pilgrimage-day-3/ |access-date=May 27, 2019}}] |
