James Bevel, 1936-2008. The news coverage, which featured children being water-hosed by police and more than 600 youth being arrested, prompted a groundswell of support for the civil rights movement. The city officials could not pretend that the Civil Rights Movement isn't a big deal (Gilmore). After the scare, James says it took a month of "intensive therapy" before he could get back on stage. In 1961, Nash was arrested for "contributing to the delinquency of minors," because she led young people in the fight against segregation. He was tried in April 2008, convicted of incest, sentenced to 15 years in prison,[11] and fined $50,000. James Bevel was born in Itta Bena, MS, in 1936. He was 72. Related Videos Bloody Sunday(TV-14; 4:10) Civil Rights Foot Soldiers(TV-14; 4:10) March from Selma to Montgomery(TV-14; 4:13) All photos and bio are bevel-cut and double matted under glass. To fight those feelings, she decided to track down her attacker. In 1966, Bevel chose Chicago as the site of SCLC's long-awaited Northern Campaign. James Bevel Civil Disobedience 746 Words | 3 Pages. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. At the turn of the 20th century, southern state legislatures had passed new constitutions and laws that effectively disenfranchised most blacks. Bevel then called off plans for the children's march. After time in the military service, he became a minister. The assault occurred in the early 1990s in Loudoun County, when Bevel was working closely with the Virginia-based organization led by political extremist Lyndon LaRouche. During that 90-minute call, Bevel's daughter asked him why he had sex with her the one time in 1993, and she asked him why he wanted her to use a vaginal douche afterward. Prosecutors opposed Bevel's release. A loud opponent of American involvement in Vietnam, which he viewed as an extension of white oppression of nonwhites, Mr. Bevel was instrumental in Dr. Kings increasingly vocal opposition to the war. James E Bevel's bio. Later efforts in Mississippi developed as Freedom Summer in 1964, when extensive voter education and registration efforts took place. It was later proven that a Ku Klux Klan chapter was responsible. [24], In the 1980s, Bevel supported Ronald Reagan as president. Bevel was in the parking lot of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis and witnessed King's assassination on April 4, 1968. James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 - December 19, 2008) was a minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Ms. MILLS: Well, it was in part my own experience when I left home at 16, and I went to stay with the Bruderhof, which is a Christian community similar to the Amish in Pennsylvania. [6] Hearing of this plan, and in response to the city's violent treatment of the students, the Kennedy administration asked SCLC's leaders what they wanted in a comprehensive civil rights bill. How much you describe it? In 1965 SCLC gave its highest honor, the Rosa Parks Award, to James Bevel and Diane Nash for their work on the Alabama Voting Rights Project. James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 December 19, 2008) was a minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States. There a lot of people who have - who didn't go through what you went through, who would not had been able to do what you did. They worked together on civil rights, and had a daughter and son together. That was our hope, but he wasn't ready to look at himself. [13] Six weeks later he died of cancer, at the age of 72, in Springfield, Virginia. Did you always sense that it was wrong? But it's this idea that he was teaching all his daughters to look at the evils in the world and within men whatever - whoever the man was, whether it's your father or the guy next door or your husband. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. During this period Bevel joined with fellow seminarian John Lewis, Diane Nash from Fisk University, and Vanderbilts James Lawson in the Nashville movement to initiate a local sit-in campaign in early February 1960. Although Bevel initially intended to pursue a recording career, he felt called to Christian ministry. And I never understood that. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. He renamed the organization the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, recruited members of many diverse groups, and organized the April 15, 1967 march from Central Park to the United Nations Building in New York City. And what really helped me was the fact that I had such a support system. James Bevel and James Orange spent April 4, 1968 at Clayburn Temple Church organizing young people. MARTIN: How did you become aware that this was wrong? And know that it could come back to them pretty harsh. And that you know they're my children, because my son knows his grandfather and he knows Martin Luther King and you know very respectful of him. Arrested dozens of times for their civil rights work in Mississippi and Alabama in the early 1960s, Nash and her husband, James Bevel, received the SCLC's Rosa . And she was telling things that I experienced and that connected to me. One, their own stories, each of them being able to tell their stories to me and for us to share. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. Find James Bevel phone, address, facebook, insatgram, twitter and email on OurBiography, the leading online directory. In the decades after King's death, Bevel aligned himself with fringe movements. Bevel married four times. [13], Actor and rapper Common portrays Bevel in the 2014 film Selma.[42]. My childhood was isolated in terms of - I wasn't isolated in terms of I couldn't interact with people outside, or I didn't go to school but in terms of my father's teachings. A minister and civil right activist who was the Director of Direct Action and the Director of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the 1960's. James Bevel was born in MS. After King's assassination in 1968, Bevel helped lead many of King's unfinished efforts, such as a demonstration to support striking sanitation workers in Memphis. THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. While working on SNCC's commitment to desegregate theaters, Bevel successfully directed the 1961 Nashville Open Theater Movement. James Bevel was the charismatic Southern Christian Leadership Conference field general who organized and led many of the actions of the Chicago Freedom Movement.Born in Mississippi in 1936, Bevel came to the civil rights movement after training to be a minister at the American Baptist Seminary and a brief stint in the Army.. Bevel first learned of the potential of non-violent direct action in . Bevel was born to sharecroppers on Oct. 19, 1936, in Itta Bena, Miss., one of 17 children. MARTIN: We were corresponding about your coming on the program because I had to be honest, I was hesitant to contact you because I was worried that you would see it as an intrusion or as a burden to talk about something so painful, again. He was known for being a Civil Rights Leader. It contains an photo offset with an additional photo, coupled with a bio. Ms. MILLS: Is he appealing? James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 - December 19, 2008) was a minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States.As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its Director of Direct Action and Nonviolent Education, Bevel initiated, strategized, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era: the 1963 Birmingham Children's . That same year, Bevel and the other Nashville activists attended the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at Shaw University. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, James Luther Bevel grew up partly in Cleveland, Ohio. Glosario de Geologia - Free ebook download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read book online for free. She wrote a remarkable series of articles that told his story as well as her own. . [19] He worked to create tenant unions and build grassroots action to "end" slums. [30] The commission was associated with conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche, and sought to persuade the state legislature to reopen its two-year investigation into the Franklin child prostitution ring allegations. Aaralyn Mills, good luck to you. James Bevel was born on October 19, 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi, USA. One of the things that I was hoping for and some of my siblings were hoping for when we started this process with my father was that we could start to understand it. Her husband, James Bevel, was a civil rights activist, too. And the sand in the glass is right. Do you see it that way? At that meeting, which had been suggested by James Lawson, Bevel and King agreed to work together on an equal basis, with neither having veto power over the other, on projects under the auspices of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He subsequently joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), serving as project director and becoming one of the most influential advisers to the SCLCs head, Martin Luther King, Jr. On Bevels recommendation, hundreds of youth were mobilized in 1963 in the childrens crusade to participate in peaceful antisegregation protests in downtown Birmingham, Ala. Come on down, stop on by. [12], In 1960, along with James Lawson's and Myles Horton's students Bernard Lafayette, John Lewis, Diane Nash, C.T. Ms. MILLS: And it's an hour and a half of him explaining his position. One of the things you said to me was that the healing growth and happiness that my family and I experienced need to be shared. During the 1950s and 1960s hundreds of thousands And I was always buffering between my father, I never let her be alone with him. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. And the heat is intense. And then, so what are the options for children? He was one of the seventeen children of Illie and Dennis Bevel. He enrolled in the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. Ms. AARALYN MILLS (Abuse Victim): Thank you for having me. And I would always tell her the things that he did to me and what he would say if he got a chance to do it to her. Springfield, Virginia, USA; Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. Civil Rights Activist. In Birmingham when Dr. Martin Luther King was jailed, Bevel organized what became known as the Children's Crusade and faced Police Commissioner Bull Connor's fire hoses and police dogs. And I am wondering how it is that you and your siblings, you particularly, were able to do it. . This movement ended within a Summit Conference that included Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. After high school, he spent some time serving in the U. S. Navy. Where was James Luther Bevel born and raised? Some protesters were jailed, but the movement kept the pressure on. Bevel was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, on 19 October 1936. The actor's assistant, Karen Lindsey, confirmed his death in a Facebook post, stating that he died of natural . Bevel also read several of Mohandas Gandhi's books and newspapers while taking off-campus workshops on Gandhi's philosophy and nonviolent techniques taught by James Lawson of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. MARTIN: Some people would call it intervention. Don't think I thought about James Bevel until he died in 2008 at age 72. James Bevel was one of the key strategists of the civil rights movement. She was prominently involved with integrating lunch counters through sit-ins, the Freedom Riders, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating . In this same period, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) had organized the 1961 Freedom Rides through the Deep South to challenge southern state laws and practices that interstate buses and their facilities remain segregated despite federal laws for equal treatment. No one wants the government in their home. So, I didn't feel that it was wrong. His brother - and we were all present, either on the phone or live. The U.S. Department of Justice had to step in and help end the protest on May 10. His contention that convicted assassin James Earl Ray was not guilty of Kings murder embarrassed many in the movement. The Rev. You know, he would make that kind of analogy. James Bevel. Nash married civil rights activist James Bevel in 1961 and moved to Jackson, Mississippi where she began organizing voter registration and school desegregation campaigns for the SCLC. In a shocking development, Crystal stated that her brothers, Robert and Michael, were responsible for the attacks. James Bevel. James L. Bevel, 71, a key architect of the 1963 Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Ala., and other pivotal moments of the civil rights movement, was convicted earlier this year of a single count of incest. In 1963, Bevel was compelled to join the desegregation struggle being waged by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth in Birmingham, Alabama. Arguably, if James Bevel had died in 1968 instead of Dr. King then the national holiday which honors the movement would fall on October 19th instead of January 15th, a statement which comes not from bias towards Bevel but from a study of the facts of the Civil Rights Movements timeline, decision-making structure, and its growing importance in . He was 72. MARTIN: I think it's fair to say that you, your other siblings went through a very great deal. Thank you so much for speaking with us. [13] In 1986, Bevel, Chicago alderman Danny K. Davis, singer-songwriter Kristin Lems, and others participated in a project of creating a summit in Chicago for Gorbachev and Reagan to bring peace and resolution to the ongoing Cold War. MARTIN: Your father's name is one that appears in many, many history books. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. whose influence spurred a pivotal event of the civil rights movement, the "children's crusade" in Birmingham, Ala., but whose reputation was later marred by fringe political associations and a criminal conviction this year on incest charges involving a teenage daughter, died Friday in Springfield, Va. Bevel also was active in the anti-war movement and greatly influenced King, who Bevel encouraged to confront the Vietnam War more directly. Originally planned as a rally in Central Park, the United Nations Anti-Vietnam War March became the largest demonstration in American history to that date. Please contact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. atlicensing@i-p-m.comor 404 526-8968. His bond was revoked and he was taken into custody. He was 72. Born 1927 and died 2001. Bevel left SCLC after Kings death and became involved in the Republican Party and the 1995 Million Man March. Marriage didn't slow down her activism. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. whose influence spurred a pivotal event of the civil rights movement, the childrens crusade in Birmingham, Ala., but whose reputation was later marred by fringe political associations and a criminal conviction this year on incest charges involving a teenage daughter, died Friday in Springfield, Va. Lafayette and his wife, Colia Lidell, also opened an SNCC project in Selma, Alabama, to assist the work of local organizers such as Amelia Boynton. His pressure paid off, and at the May 1964 executive staff meeting King recommended that SCLC increase its presence in Alabama. He entered the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville in 1957; he graduated and was ordained in 1961. In 1963, as the Alabama project director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization led by Dr. King, Mr. Bevel persuaded Dr. King to allow children to participate in antisegregation demonstrations, in which they would almost surely face arrest. He and the others were arrested after they arrived in Jackson, Mississippi and tried to desegregate the waiting rooms in the bus terminal. James L. Bevel, a prominent figure in the civil rights movement whose legacy was clouded by an incest conviction has died, a relative said. Bevel was convicted of unlawful fornication; he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $50,000. Far from be-ing "secondary," King's popular essays and incandes-cent oratory made him unique. Ms. MILLS: Right, because I always wrote letters. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Beloved actor and former college football star's cause of death. In 1992, he was vice presidential running mate to political extremist Lyndon LaRouche, who at the time was in a federal prison for a tax conviction. And it's the beginning because we - and our next step is to really continue to work on, part of it is brainstorming of how do you protect children within the home. Ms. MILLS: I mean we have to look at a lot of aspects of life, in those parallels. or 404 526-8968. Another daughter, Sherilynn Bevel, confirmed the death, The Washington Post reported. They were severely penalized for missing work and were trying to support their families. Ms. MILLS: I feel almost as if it's something I had to do. MARTIN: Sounds like you would have made a hell of an organizer? This defendant should die in jail.". He decides what's right and not right. Mr. Bevel was Mr. LaRouches running mate in 1992, a time when Mr. LaRouche was serving time for fraud and tax evasion. How old was James Bevel when he died? Ms. MILLS: Well, in that it was going to be in the news, the story the side of the - my side should be told. While in the Seminary, Bevel joined the Nashville chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), then led by the Reverend James Lawson. What a strange character James is! And the suns from the West. American comedian and civil rights activist. From previous discussions with King, and from work of American Friends Service Committee activist Bill Moyer, Bevel organized, and directed the Chicago open housing movement. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its Director of Direct Action and Nonviolent Education, Bevel initiated, strategized, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era: the 1963 Birmingham Children's . Ella Baker, a Civil Rights activist and Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) official, invited some of those young Black activists (including Diane Nash, Marion Barry, John Lewis, and James Bevel) to a meeting at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in . Historian Taylor Branch quotes King in At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 19651968 (2006) as saying that "Andrew Young had given in to doubt, Bevel to brains, and Jackson to ambition", and said that the movement had made them and now they were using the movement to promote themselves. After high school he served in the U.S. Navy for a time and pursued a career as a singer. Bevel was forced from his position in the SCLC after exhibiting erratic behaviour. Having background is important to get the whole picture. James L. Bevel, The Freedom Rides, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 14:24. In 1992, Bevel ran for vice president on a ticket with Lyndon LaRouche. He attended workshops at the . In March 1965, Mr. Bevel, a fiery orator, spoke at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma, Ala., the starting point of a symbolic march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where demonstrators had been beaten two days earlier a day remembered as Bloody Sunday in a first attempt to march to Montgomery to protest discriminatory voting practices. While in the Seminary, Bevel joined the Nashville chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), then led by the Reverend . MARTIN: I mean you were a very young girl when the abuse started. [7], Prior to his time with SCLC, Bevel worked in the Nashville Student Movement, which conducted the 1960 Nashville Lunch-Counter Sit-Ins, the 1961 Open Theater Movement, and recruited students to continue the 1961 Freedom Rides after they were attacked. He often wore overalls over a shirt and tie; he shaved his head and sometimes covered it with a yarmulke in honor of Old Testament prophets. Bevel feared that activists who were not committed to nonviolence were conductingdemonstration[s] for the sake of demonstrating,and that these tactics resulted inrioting and deaths.He advised,In order to off-set these trends, the non-violent must project and execute a program that will [allow] more Negroes to become convinced of the effectiveness of non-violence and the principles of it.Bevel further implored King to putthe whole non-violent staffon the Alabama project (Bevel, 13 April 1964). This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Luther-Bevel, African American Registry - Biography of James Bevel, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle - Biography of James Luther Bevel. . They divorced after seven years. James Bevel was born on October 19, 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi, USA. Orrin, who said she did not testify at Bevel's trial, said she was molested by her father when she was 12. He worked on a cotton plantation for a time as a youth and later in a steel mill. Bevel said that he had no interest in getting her pregnant. Things we often feel we have to keep hidden. He unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 1984, served as Lyndon LaRouches running mate in the 1992 U.S. presidential election, and helped organize the Million Man March in 1995. In 1962 Bevel left SNCC to become Mississippi field secretary for SCLC. In 2008 Bevels legacy was tarnished when he was found guilty of having engaged in an incestuous relationship with a teenage daughter in the 1990s. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place. James Bevel was a leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Instead, Bevel mocked the notion of an apology. Practices such as requiring payment of poll taxes and literacy tests administered in a discriminatory way by white officials maintained the exclusion of blacks from the political system in the 1960s. [20] Bevel was influential in gaining King's support for the anti-war movement,[13] and with King's agreeing to participate as a speaker Bevel agreed to lead the antiwar effort. The Rev. James I died on this day in 1625. He went on to plan some of the movement's major . Mr. Bevel had been released from prison in November because he had pancreatic cancer. Ms. MILLS: It is hard to describe because it's part of the whole environment that we lived in, in terms of having meetings to discuss problems. He also worked on a cotton plantation and in a steel mill. In 1960, Bevel and other black students trained by Lawson, including John Lewis, Dianne Nash, Marion Barry, and Bernard Lafayette, organized sit-ins against segregated lunch counters. And when she told me that everything I told her about what's happening as I was telling her that really hurt me. And the heat is intense. He was recently released on bond while appealing a 15-year prison sentence. Movies. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. And the suns from the West. Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place. Politically Mr. Bevel drifted to the right, supporting Ronald Reagans presidency and tying himself to Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr., the perpetual fringe candidate for president. The Rev. James Bevel (1936-2008) James Bevel was one of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most trusted advisors during the American Civil Rights campaigns of the mid-20th century. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. The large group were bludgeoned and tear-gassed in what became known as "Bloody Sunday". He put this barrier between us and the world. Bevel was later instrumental in organizing the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., an event that was credited with helping to usher in the Voting Rights Act (1965). But this was the meeting in which we called other members of the community, Bernard Layfette and Will Sanders and as well as relatives. James D Bevel's bio. And then also for us to go together, because we didn't grow up together. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its Director of Direct Action and Nonviolent Education, Bevel initiated, strategized, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era:[2][3] the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade,[4] the 1965 Selma voting rights movement, and the 1966 Chicago open housing movement. Memorialize James's life with photos and stories about him and the Bevel family history and genealogy. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. On Saturday, she told The Associated Press she's still processing her "very complicated" feelings about his death. And we really wanted our father based on who he is and his own understanding to take that step to look at himself, to begin to if not challenge other men first by challenging himself. The Likely Lads, as well as the television . Bevel also served as pastor and adviser to Chicago's Council of Mothers; the West Side Baptist Minister's Conference; WorkShip Coalition; and the Nation of Islam. As the number of adult participants willing to go to jail dwindled, Bevel began recruiting black students from Birminghams high schools, colleges, and churches to participate in the protests. In case of Aaralyn Mills, it was all three. Where did James Bevel die? The Rev. At the sentencing hearing, the victims said they were hoping that Bevel would apologize for his actions and seek forgiveness and reconciliation. MARTIN: What made you realized that it was wrong? How did she react? 'You dont like to work on anything that isnt your own idea,' King said, 'Bevel, I think you owe me one.'"[22]. In subsequent years Bevel continued his political activism. MARTIN: Aaralyn Mills tells her powerful story of rape and recovery in the pages of the Washington Post Magazine. But he was also a child predator, who exploited the trust of his family by molesting his daughter Aaralyn Mills. You can also ask your. Thank you so much for speaking with us. Richard Boone and the Rev. Actions, most emphatically, did not distinguish King from his equally courageous colleagues, whose words, like his, were congruent with their lives. I wanted to ask why you decided that now was the time to tell it. [26][27] A year earlier, Bevel had denounced the deprogramming of a Moon follower and called for the protection of religious rights. People Photos Purpose. In 1993, two 10-year-old boys tortured and murdered the toddler after leading him away from a . During his four-day trial in 2008, the accusing daughter testified that she was repeatedly molested by him, beginning when she was six years old. After King was assassinated, Bevel made a bizarre[a] claim that James Earl Ray was not the killer and that he had evidence that Ray was innocent. You had moved on with your life, but there was another young girl, another child he had had through a subsequent marriage. A one-time top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for having sex more than a decade ago with his then-teenage daughter. They, Nash, and others stayed in Mississippi to work on grassroots organizing. And I didn't say anything to them, mainly because they knew - because they had either witnessed it or I'd witness them doing behavior. And we'll decide what to do as a family. James L. Bevel, an adviser to the Rev. In fact, while she was pregnant in 1962, Nash had to contend with the possibility of serving out a two-year prison sentence for giving civil rights training to local youth.