A minister and educator, the Rev. F.D. Reese dedicated most of his life to improving the welfare of Selma’s citizens. Reese was also one of Selma’s first Black city council members.
at Ebenezer Baptist Church that Sunday, the area, like many other parts of the city, still had visible remnants of the January storms. Fallen tree limbs still impaled some houses. Decimated homes with destroyed roofs were covered in blue tarp, and people worked to remove fallen beams and clear debris with saws.
“I’ve never seen nothing like it. I’ve never seen nothing like that personally. And it really was devastating, man. You know, I’ll never forget when I got to Selma that Friday morning. I saw one individual sitting on a concrete block. And the house was just totally gone,” said Reese. “He had the look of… the look on his face as if ‘there’s no hope.’ And that really hurt my feelings because he lost everything. And that was in Smokey City and it was just heartbreaking.
Reese was also one of Selma’s first Black city council members and he was instrumental in adding the first Black men to the city’s police and sheriff departments. Reese lost his bid for mayor of Selma in 1984, but he later served as the campaign manager for James Perkins Jr., who became the city’s first African American mayor in 2000. A lifelong educator, Reese later became an administrator where he continued to mentor blooming educators as the principal of Selma High School.FILE--Dr.
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