James Luther Bevel was a prominent civil rights activist who played a key role in organizing many nonviolent protests and movements in the 1960s. He was influenced by leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and James Lawson to embrace nonviolent civil disobedience. Bevel helped stage influential sit-ins in Nashville in 1960 and was a leader within the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He is particularly known for sparking the Children's Crusade protest in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. Bevel worked closely with Dr. King on many civil rights campaigns and was with him when King was assassinated in 1968.
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James Luther Bevel was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi.
He is a descendant to Dennis and Illie Bevel. His
father was a farmer and an unordained minister. Being
a black land owner in Humphreys County, their family
was often a target for white repression on property
which really hurt the family. His parents soon after
divorced. His Childhood then became divided
between Mississippi and Ohio. Bevels Father had
earned the nickname Crazy Dennis Bevel by whites
who lived near him because of his unwillingness to
suffer the injustice of Jim Crow laws. This heavily
influenced James Bevels ideals as somebody who
would later become a Civil Rights Activist.
James Luther Bevel
References
Oxford African American Studies Center James
Luther Bevel
Kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu James Luther
Bevel
Britannica Academic UAB Database James Luther
Bevel
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Legacy (If deceased)
Early Life
Figure 2: Here is picture of the real James Bevel
compared to his character played by Common in
the movie Selma
School and Beyond
Personal Life
James Bevel married one of his Civil Rights Peers
Diane Nash. They had 2 children and were divorced
four years later. Decades later he became the father
of 16 children by 7 different women.
Introduction
This Poster is about the Honorable Civil Rights
Activist James Luther Bevel. Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr often credits Bevel with sparking the Childrens
Crusade in 1963 in Birmingham Alabama. Bevel was
often with King during many of civil rights marches
and Movements and also when King was killed in
Memphis, Tennessee.
Bevel later served in the United States Navy, a
bricklayers assistant in Ohio, as a musician in a
nightclub music group. Moved by an encounter
with God at a neighbors church, Bevel
Registered as a student at American Baptist
Theological Seminary in Nashville in 1957. On
campus, he soon gained a strong reputation for his
powerful influence in the pulpit both intellectually
and musically. He was officially ordained as a
Baptist Pastor in 1959, and went on to minister at
Chestnut Grove Baptist Church.
Figure 1
Figure 1: Here is Dr. Martin Luther King and
James Bevel together. Bevel was often an
advisory to Dr. King during the Civil Rights
movements
Figure 2
How he got his start
Figure 3
Figure 3: Here is a picture of an older, post civil
rights movement James Bevel.
Bevel became drawn to activities outside of
school. While in school to become a minister had
met a preacher by the name of Reverend James
Lawson. Lawson, a former evangelist and
member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, had
captivated a large number of students (Both Black
and White) to his non-violent technique
workshops which he taught as part of their
Christian faith. Participants in these teachings
were future civil rights leaders Diane Nash, John
Lewis, Marion Barry, Bernard Lafayette, and
others. Bevel was doubtful about Lawson but
became inspired by the teachings with
Lawsons examples of Mohandas Gandhi non-
violent tactics. Bevel took Lawsons teaching and
his readings of Russian Christian Novelist Leo
Tolstoy while in the Navy and had resolved that
non-violent action was the logical way to defeat
social injustice. Bevel with the help of Diane
Nash, John Lewis, and James Lawson, staged a
prosperous sit in campaign in Nashville restaurants
in 1960. Bevel and small group of non-violent
protesters linked up with others to form the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Bevel and
his other Nashville crusaders gained a lot of
attention for their efforts both positive and
negative. Bevel would go on to play a crucial role
in Civil Rights Movements in Nashville.
Civil Rights Activism
In 1961, Bevel helped stage a number of stand-ins
in movie theaters to desegregate Nashvilles
downtown area. That same year, Bevel and other
Nashville activist brought back Freedom Rides in
Nashville which were illegal. Bevel and his fellow
activist were arrested and Bevel was sent back to a
prison in his home state of Mississippi. After being
Released Bevel began organizing Civil Rights groups
in multiple cities in Mississippi. Bevel worked for
both the Student Non-violent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC). His work and
notoriety with both of these organization gave him
positions like member of the executive staff and field
secretary. In 1964 Bevel worked alongside Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. as an ambassador for him
to the younger leaders of the SNCC whilst
building his reputation a prominent civil rights
organizer. Bevels most famous leadership work
is his arrangement of the Childrens Crusade in
Birmingham, Alabama in 1963.
James Bevel passed away at 72 due to his loss of battle
against Pancreatic Cancer. He died in December of
2008 in Springfield, Virginia