The southern city of Selma, Alabama conjures up particular images in the collective memory of American society like protesting marchers, the Edmund Pettits bridge, tear gas and riot police. Even though it was the heart of the Bible belt, Selma had a Catholic presence, also divided along racial lines, one parish for blacks and one for whites. Traditionally, black Southern Catholics were members of the Roman Catholic church because their forefathers and mothers had been baptized into the faith by their Catholic slaveholders. The Don Bosco dinner-dance was held every January 31st which was, in the Catholic calendar of saints, the feast day of Saint Don Bosco.