In Memoriam: Two giants of the civil rights movement, Rev. CT Vivian and Congressman John Lewis, pass away.
Reverend CT Vivian, who is best known as a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, a man who Dr. King once called “the greatest preacher I’ve ever heard,” died on Friday, July 17, 2020, at the age of 95. Mr. Vivian led sit-ins at lunch counters, boycotts of businesses, and marches that often led to mass arrests in segregated cities in the south, including Selma, Birmingham, and Jackson. Vivian’s sacrifices led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1970, Vivian wrote the book “Black Power and the American Myth.” He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Barack Obama in 2013.