Perkins made history in 2000 when he was elected mayor in a runoff election, defeating longtime Selma mayor Joe Smitherman. The race was Perkins' third attempt, and his victory marked a turning point in the city's long history of racism.

A Selma native, Perkins was 10 when African-American residents attempted to march to the Capitol in Montgomery in 1965. The people were marching for equal rights, including the right to vote. The event brought international attention to the community when the group was stopped at the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Selma police, Alabama state troopers and other deputized individuals. Authorities assaulted the group of marching people, including children, and the incident came to be known as "Bloody Sunday." This was a major catalyst that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Perkins was in the first group of black students who attended the newly formed Selma High School. He attended Alabama A&M, Huntsville, a historically black college, and was hired by Caterpillar Tractor Co. as a computer programmer and systems analyst. In 1980, Perkins opened his own computer consulting firm, Business Ventures Inc.

There is no charge for this presentation, one of several Black History Month events sponsored by the college's Multicultural Student Union. For more information, call Lou Pratters, Hastings College adjunct instructor of teacher education, at (402) 461-7747.