"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.
Georgia s New Voting Law Is Voter Suppression 2.0
In this Jan. 5, 2021, file photo, voters wait in line to cast their ballots in Georgia s Senate runoff election in Atlanta. The sweeping rewrite of Georgia s election rules that was signed into law by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on March 25, 2021, represents the first big set of changes since former President Donald Trump s repeated, baseless claims of fraud following his presidential loss to Joe Biden.
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Callie s Commentary | April 5, 2021
Feb. 15, 1965, Selma, Alabama moments before the portly sheriff wielded his billy club to batter the Rev. C. T. Vivian’s face.
“You can keep the club in your hand, but you cannot beat down justice,” insisted the fearless reverend, facing down the notorious Sheriff Jim Clark while leading a demonstration for voting rights at the Dallas County Courthouse. Clark said afterward he didn’t “remember hitting him. But the sheriff regularly assaulted nonviolent civil rights
Listen to an excerpt of the interview with Steve Fiffer
TS: To move down the road a little bit. so he went to Western Illinois University, and then he came to Peoria, Illinois to take a job at the Carver Center. And that was really the first time we hear about C.T. Vivian really engaging in nonviolent civil protests, with trying to integrate the lunch counters in Peoria back in the 40s, which I think was kind of it was an uncommon thing at that time. You don t really hear about things like that happening in the 40s too much. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Published March 15, 2021 at 2:22 PM CDT Listen
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Among his many accomplishments as a civil rights leader, the Rev. C.T. Vivian (center) helped integrate Florida s beaches by holding wade-ins. Some turned violent, like this one in June 1964.
The Rev. C.T. Vivian, the Missouri-born preacher who served as a civil rights leader and confidant to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died last year at age 95. Now, eight months later, Vivian’s posthumously published memoir brings the full scope of his long life and landmark battles to life.
That includes successful efforts to desegregate lunch counters in Nashville and Peoria, Illinois; beaches in St. Augustine, Florida; and interstate bus lines as a Freedom Rider. Vivian was punched by the notorious Sheriff Jim Clark on the courthouse steps in Selma, Alabama, assaulted in jail and nearly drowned during the St. Augustine “wade-in.” His coolness in the face of violence led Andrew Young to credit his Selm
(AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
Originally published on March 15, 2021 6:42 pm
The Reverend C.T. Vivian died before finishing his memoir It s in the Action. That left co-author Steve Fiffer with the job of telling the rest of the civil rights icon s life story. It s in the Action hits bookstores on Tuesday. WCBU s Tim Shelley spoke with Fiffer about how he completed the book, and some of the formative and pivotal moments of Vivian s life.
TIM SHELLEY: Steve, the process behind how this book came together is kind of interesting, because C.T. Vivian had not written a memoir of his life before this. And you came in and helped him put this together. And I believe he actually passed away right in the middle of the writing process, correct?