Alvelyn Sanders-Swafford is an ordained minister, writer, and filmmaker. She is the author of the book Lord Have Mercy: 5 Go-To Prayers When You Need To Pray, But Don’t Know What To Say. She has been a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church denomination since 2004. She served as a pastor in that denomination from 2014 – 2024, where she commendably led four congregations in the Ninth Episcopal District in the cities of Bessemer – New Magnolia AME Church; Florence – Greater Saint Paul AME Church;  Birmingham – Saint James AME Church – Avondale; and Phenix City – Gaines Chapel AME Church – all in Alabama. She is the writer, producer, and director of the independent, award-winning film documentary, “Foot Soldiers: Class of 1964.”

“Foot Soldiers: Class of 1964” premiered in the 2012 BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta, before making its television debut on Atlanta’s PBS station, WPBA-TV30. “Foot Soldiers: Class of 1964” received two awards at the 21st Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles in February 2013: Best Documentary Short (57mins) in the juried competition, and Audience Favorite in the Documentary Short category. It tells the story of the women of the Class of 1964 at Spelman College who participated in the largest, coordinated series of protests in Atlanta’s history during their freshman year. Sanders-Swafford and her mother, Dr. Georgianne Thomas, a Spelman College alumna who tells her story in the film, produced the project together. (www.footsoldiers1964.com) The film was entered into the U.S. Congressional Record in May 2022. It is currently available for streaming through pbs.org. Most recently, the documentary was one of the featured films in the Inaugural Delta Film Festival, a national, virtual festival presented by the National Arts and Letters Commission of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. It has appeared in the Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival as well.

Sanders-Swafford’s work as a writer has appeared in Essence magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper, Black Issues Book Review magazine, and Northwestern (University) magazine among other publications. She served as a contributing reporter for Atlanta’s NPR (National Public Radio) station, WABE 90.1FM for many years. She is believed to be the first Black female reporter for WABE-90.1FM. She received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University (Radio-TV-Film), and graduate degrees from Clark Atlanta University (M.A., African American Studies) and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University (MTS; MDiv). Sanders-Swafford was in the inaugural class of the Master Class of Memoir Writing at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University.

Sanders-Swafford is the recipient of a 2022 President Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement and Volunteer Service Award for her work in the media with her mother, Dr. Georgianne Thomas. She has been a member of the faculty teaching at Atlanta Metropolitan State College, Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, and Spelman College. As a member of the faculty at Morris Brown College, she was one of twenty instructors selected nationally to participate in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation (The Emmys) Faculty Seminar on the television entertainment industry held in Los Angeles. As a writer, she was selected to participate in the Zora Neale Hurston-Richard Wright Foundation Writers Week in Virginia. As an arts producer, Sanders-Swafford worked on six consecutive National Black Arts Festivals in Atlanta, Georgia, in the Literary, Theatre, and Visual Arts components.

Sanders-Swafford is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and married to Reverend Raymond Swafford, an expert in nuclear energy whose career included a longtime senior position at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant/Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). After a distinguished career with TVA, as well as and many years as a successful pastor, in 2024, he was appointed to serve as a Presiding Elder of the Tuskegee District in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Ninth Episcopal District. Sanders-Swafford serves the AME Church as a minister and with her husband as District Consultant for the Tuskegee District. She operates, Indigo Soul, an online store featuring apparel and lifestyle items that celebrate God’s Word. You may follow her ministry via social media on Facebook, Instagram and on YouTube @alvelynsanders-swafford. She has the privilege of raising Nalaya, her “bonus” granddaughter, with her husband, Raymond. Reverend Alvelyn Sanders-Swafford is grateful for her family, village, mentors, and the kindness of friends and strangers. She is grateful for God’s love, grace, and mercy, and she prays to lead a life and ministry pleasing to God.