Frederick D. Reese - Wikipedia

Frederick Douglas Reese, or F. D. Reese, (born November 28, 1929) is a civil rights activist, educator, and minister from Selma, Alabama. Known as a member of Selma's "Courageous Eight,"[1] Reese was the president of the Dallas County Voters League (DCVL) when that organization invited the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King Jr. to come to Selma to amplify the city's local voting rights campaign.[2] This campaign eventually gave birth to the Selma to Montgomery marches, which later led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Reese was also president of the Selma Teachers Association, and in January 1965 he mobilized Selma's teachers to march as a group for their right to vote.[2] Reese retired from teaching and as of February 2015 was still active as a minister at Selma's Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church.[3]