Anniversary Dates Focus on the Work of C.T. and Octavia Vivian Nonprofit
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At anniversary of C.T. Vivian s death, the work of the C.T. and Octavia Vivian Museum and Archives (CTOVMA), https://ctovma.org/ a nonprofit set up by C.T. to protect and preserve the 6,000-volume collection of books written mostly by African American writers continues to inspire Civil Rights leaders of today.
In 2013, President Barack Obama presented C.T. with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, I am only here thanks to C.T. Vivian and all the heroes in that civil rights generation. The trail they blazed gave today’s generation of activists a roadmap.
It s In The Action : Lessons Of A Civil Rights Pioneer wutc.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wutc.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
C.T. Vivian Day in Jackson: The late iconic Civil Rights warrior’s memoirs speak volumes to young organizers
C.T. Vivian Day in Jackson: The late iconic Civil Rights warrior’s memoirs speak volumes to young organizers
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Vivian
Little did the late Rev. C.T. Vivian know that Mississippi’s capital city would one day recognize him with a day in tribute to his Civil Rights legacy as a Freedom Rider. He was arrested May 24, 1961.
Wednesday, May 26, 2021, was declared C.T. Vivian’s Day in the City of Jackson, Miss. The proclamation, in part, signed by Mayor Lumumba, reads: “Whereas Reverend Vivian’s efforts brought him to Mississippi as a Freedom Rider in 1961 and as an organizer of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s (SNICK) “The Summer Project” for voter registration in 1964, Vivian’s devotion to civil rights extended virtually his entire lifetime from 1924 to 2020, including playing leadership roles in Jackson where Vivian was arres
Photo credit: NewSouth Books It s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior, by C.T. Vivian with Steve Fiffer. Foreword by Andrew Young. Published 2021 by NewSouth Books, 208 pages, $24.95. C.T. Vivian entered Macomb High School in 1938. I never thought of using the term institutional racism to describe the place, he wrote in his posthumous memoir. This wasn t because such racism didn t exist. Rather, I just didn t know there was a term to describe what I experienced. The book – titled,
It s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior, and released in March 2021 – covers Vivian s experiences in Illinois. Vivian was born in 1924. He died at age 95 on July 17 of last year, the same day as his close friend and fellow civil rights leader, Congressman John Lewis.