Jonathan Daniels and the Martyrs of Alabama Pilgrimage

Jonathan Daniels and the Martyrs of Alabama Pilgrimage

We shall overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome some day.

Alabama has many sacred spaces, places that are often connected with the civil rights movement. For Episcopalians in Alabama, perhaps the most significant is at Hayneville in Lowndes County, where Episcopal seminarian Jonathan Daniels was martyred in August 1965. The Jonathan Daniels pilgrimage has become a fixture for many and a reminder that the equality for which he gave his life is a continuing sacrifice.

There is something profoundly moving about going back to a sacred place and remembering, that enables the pilgrim to resolve, to repent, and to carry on the work of building the beloved community. 

2025 Pilgrimage Event Details: 

  • Event Date: Saturday, August 9, 2025
  • Youth Pilgrimage Date: August 8-9, 2025


In 2025, we are excited to welcome the 27th Presiding Bishop Michael Bruce Curry as our guest preacher. At the church’s 78th General Convention in June 2015, he was elected to a nine-year term in this role and installed in November of that year; he serves as The Episcopal Church’s chief pastor, spokesperson, and president and chief executive officer. Throughout his ministry, Bishop Curry has been a prophetic leader, particularly in the areas of racial reconciliation, climate change, evangelism, immigration policy, and marriage equality. The animating vision and message of his ministry is Jesus of Nazareth and his way of radical, sacrificial love, and he regularly reminds Episcopalians they are “the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement.”
 
Bishop Curry was ordained a priest in 1978 and served parishes in North Carolina, Ohio, and Maryland until his 2000 election as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. He graduated with high honors from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and earned his Master of Divinity degree from Yale University. Bishop Curry is the author of five books and a regular guest on national and international media outlets.

The recording of the service for 2024 can be found HERE.


Jonathan Daniels and the Martyrs of Alabama Pilgrimage

The Pilgrimage Experience

Please plan to join us on Saturday, August 9, 2025, for the 28th Annual Jonathan Daniels Pilgrimage. We will gather in the courthouse square in Hayneville, Alabama, and begin our pilgrimage procession at 11 am. The procession will travel from the square to the old County Jail where Daniels was among those detained for a week after being arrested in Fort Deposit for picketing white-only businesses. The procession continues to the site of the old Varner’s Cash Store, where Daniels was killed. The procession ends in the Lowndes County Courthouse, where a service of Holy Communion will be celebrated in the courtroom where the man who shot Daniels had been tried and acquitted by an all-white jury.

Let us know you’re coming!

During the service we also recognize the other 14 martyrs who lost their lives in Alabama during the civil rights movement:

Elmore Bolling,

December 4, 1947, martyred in Lowndesboro, AL

Willie Edwards, Jr.

January 23, 1957, martyred in Montgomery, AL

William Lewis Moore

April 23, 1963, martyred in Attalla, AL

Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley

September 15, 1963, martyred in Birmingham, AL

Virgil Lamar Ware

September 15, l963, martyred in Birmingham, AL

Johnny Robinson

September 15, 1963, martyred in Birmingham, AL

Jimmie Lee Jackson

February 26, 1965, martyred in Marion, AL

Viola Greg Liuzzo

March 25, 1965, martyred near Lowndesboro, AL

The Rev. James Reeb

March 11, 1965, martyred in Selma, AL 

Willie Brewster,

September 18, l965, martyred in Anniston, AL

Samuel Leamon Younge, Jr

January 3, 1966, martyred in Tuskegee, AL

and those known only to God.

Jonathan Daniels and the Martyrs of Alabama Pilgrimage
The Jonathan Daniels Youth Pilgrimage is a weekend of service and remembrance for youth grades 9th-12th grade. The youth event will take place August 8-9, 2025

For more information about the Jonathan Daniels Pilgrimage and the youth pilgrimage please contact Breanna Carter, Missioner for Racial Healing and Pilgrimage, bcarter@dioala.org.