When You Vote – I Win (WYVIW), a Michigan voter mobilization nonprofit, has spent the past year carrying a new 27-minute documentary to communities across Michigan, Atlanta, and online audiences. The film, Selma Sisters March On, tells the story of the two Selma foot soldiers on whose story the organization was built: Alice Moore and Denise Holt, sisters who crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 at ages 16 and 14, fighting for their parents’ right to vote.
The running time is deliberate. On its documentary page, the organization explains that the film is 27 minutes long “to allow time for conversation and ACTION.” The outreach plan is paying off: the organization’s screening calendar lists engagements running from June through November 2026 in Detroit, Southfield, Ann Arbor and Atlanta, plus online broadcasts.
From Selma to the Screen
WYVIW was founded and is directed by Charles Thomas Jr., a direct descendant of both sisters, according to the organization’s about page. In 1965, 16-year-old Alice Thomas and 14-year-old Denise Thomas were members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and, per the organization’s website, two of only 300 marchers who completed the entire 54-mile journey from Selma to Montgomery.
Both women largely stepped out of the public eye for decades, but Ms. Magazine — in a profile of the film published on the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act — reports that watching recent court decisions weaken the law has galvanized the sisters back into activism.
“Anybody of color [who] tried to register, they were degraded. People had different tests,” Alice Moore recalls in the film, as quoted in the Ms. Magazine piece. “Those were the things our parents were facing, and they came back disappointed, and that was a hard thing to watch them be humiliated.”
Her sister, who is now first vice mayor of Forest Park, Ohio, is blunter about the present. “We’re going backwards,” Denise Holt says, also as quoted in the Ms. Magazine profile.
The film’s momentum began earlier: its trailer won the Spark The Vote Social Media & Film Challenge for best voting video in fall 2024, and the organization says the $5,000 award helped make the longer version possible.
A 2026 Screening Tour
Screenings have become the centerpiece of WYVIW’s recent work, though the organization’s outreach extends beyond film nights. It also runs “Value of the Vote” sessions, “An Afternoon with Two Selma Foot Soldiers,” and B.O.S.S., a mobile game that engages young people in political realities.
Stops on the screening calendar in 2026 include:
- A League of Women Voters of Michigan livestream (August 7)
- An ACT TV broadcast by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, introduced by actors Yvette Nicole Brown and DeMark Liggins (August 17)
- Wayne County Community College (September 16)
- Benjamin Elijah Mays High School in Atlanta (September 28)
- The My Voice My Vote Family Fun Day in Detroit (October 3)
- Birmingham Unitarian Universalist Church in Birmingham, Michigan (November 10)
The tour’s latest listing was the November 10 Birmingham screening. The organization invites schools, churches, temples and community centers to sign up to host their own screenings, in person or online, and has published a social action impact guide with tools for voter registration and turnout.
Watch, Follow, Get Involved
The film is available to watch online. The organization’s film page links to a Vimeo stream, and its YouTube channel carries the “I Belong” anthem video along with chaptered clips from the documentary.
Viewer feedback on the organization’s site has been warm; some describe the film as moving and say it should be required viewing in every American high school.
“You need to go to the polls,” Holt tells a room of high schoolers in the film, as quoted in Ms. Magazine. “If you don’t vote, you’re not going to get that person out … Because America has always understood the power of the ballot.”
The site is operated by Charity for People Powered Democracy, a Michigan 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to voter engagement, based in Southfield. The sisters’ team can be followed on the organization’s Instagram, TikTok and Facebook (as the Selma Sisters page).
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