So, I really felt powerless. Bevel's Birmingham legacy remembered by civil rights foot soldiers That resilience has been tested recently. [12], In 1960, along with James Lawson's and Myles Horton's students Bernard Lafayette, John Lewis, Diane Nash, C.T. "We know that the defendant is dying," said Prosecutor Gigi Lawless. 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. 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. Even before the final march occurred, President Lyndon Johnson had gone on national television to address a joint session of Congress, appealing for passage of his administration-backed comprehensive Voting Rights Act. John Lewis, another King confidant who has been a Georgia congressman for more than 20 years, recalled in a memoir that at Spelman College in Atlanta, Mr. Bevel once declared himself a prophet and made his student disciples drink urine to signal their loyalty. Orrin and several of her siblings finally took action against him four years ago out of concern for his 7-and-a half-year-old daughter. At the sentencing hearing, the victims said they were hoping that Bevel would apologize for his actions and seek forgiveness and reconciliation. After serving seven months, he was freed awaiting an appeal; he died of pancreatic cancer in December 2008 and was buried in Eutaw, Alabama . How much you describe it? When she approaches people and identifies herself as James Bevels and my daughter, many are very welcoming and attempt to help her in any way possible, not knowing that she and I have been estranged for decades. They could go to jail for this. Virginia was No. We will have a link to it on our website. So, I didn't feel that it was wrong. He is a celebrity civil rights leader. His bond was revoked and he was taken into custody. Ms. MILLS: It was actually, as in the article, I was actually watching a Oprah show and it was - the difference in this, was there was a little girl. Civil rights leader guilty of incest - Washington Times On April 10, 2008, after a three-hour deliberation, the jury found Bevel guilty, his bond was revoked, and he was taken into custody. Chris Kaiser bought a kit and built a grain silo thinking he would use it for storage. James Bevel (1936-2008) - BlackPast.org They also revealed that at least four other daughters Bevel had with various women have made similar allegations against him. He said his family mistakenly perceived his refusal to deny the specific allegations against him as an admission of guilt. In 1962, Bevel was invited to meet in Atlanta with Martin Luther King Jr, a minister who was head of the SCLC. PDF Civil Rights Icon, Diane Nash, Sues Estranged Daughter For Improperly He appeared headed for a career as a pop music singer he had signed a contract with a record label when he felt called to the ministry and enrolled in the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, where he joined the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. They invited King and other SCLC leaders to Selma to develop larger protests and actions, and work alongside Bevel's and Nash's Alabama Project. I had a son at the time and I just had a daughter, but I just wanted to move on. And there is plenty of darkness. MARTIN: How did you become aware that this was wrong? Prosecutor Nicole Wittmann also warned the jury against getting confused by Bevel's sometimes convoluted explanations of his philosophies and his justifications for his actions. He was 72. During his trial, testimony indicated that Bevel considered it parents' duty to "sexually orient" their children. Ms. MILLS: Is he appealing? And so I chose a very difficult conversation we had in June with a daughter of civil rights strategist James Bevel. They agreed to continue until they had achieved these goals, and to ask for funding from the SCLC only if the group was involved in organizing a movement. After years of failed attempts to draw the concern of family members, Mills pursued charges against her father, and in April, Bevel was convicted of incest. And we'll decide what to do as a family. 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. On February 16, 1965, Jimmie Lee Jackson, his mother, and grandfather took part in a nighttime march led by C. T. Vivian to protest the related jailing of activist James Orange in Marion, Alabama. James L. Bevel is shown in a photoprovided by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. [13], Actor and rapper Common portrays Bevel in the 2014 film Selma.[42]. And I was always buffering between my father, I never let her be alone with him. She wrote a remarkable series of articles that told his story as well as her own. "Saying 'I'm sorry' is a game we play. She'd like to see abusers get help as well. Martin Luther King Jr. to tear down the walls of segregation. I've never known him to be a liar. Related Videos Bloody Sunday (TV-14; 4:10) The Surprising Origins of #MeToo - New York Times We have great country we live in that had slavery. Ms. MILLS: Yeah, it was - it was like intervention, but for my father it was a meeting, it was a, you know, you present your case, I'll present my case. Soon after, another three daughters said he had sexually abused them as . On August 28, 1963, SCLC participated in what became known as the March on Washington, an event organized by labor leader A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, who had planned an earlier 1941 March. Eventually, the Freedom Riders reached their goal of New Orleans, Louisiana, generating nationwide coverage of the violence to maintain Jim Crow and white supremacy in the South.[16]. His contention that convicted assassin James Earl Ray was not guilty of Kings murder embarrassed many in the movement. The trial court found that abating the conviction would deny the victim the closure that she sought and denied the motion to abate. He was recently released on bond while appealing a 15-year. That was very hard for me. . 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. "I'm very proud to be the daughter of a man who contributed so much to the world through his civil-rights work," she told The Associated Press on Dec. 19, the day her father died at the age of 72. 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. He put this barrier between us and the world. One, their own stories, each of them being able to tell their stories to me and for us to share. He was 72. Instead, Bevel mocked the notion of an apology. And unfortunately not all of us are able to see the abuse even things that are obvious. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Last week, Joanna Connors a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer told us about how 20 years later being raped still made her feel powerless and ashamed. 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. "I do love my father," she wrote me in a follow-up e-mail. James Bevel - Bio, Age, Wiki, Facts and Family - in4fp.com She and several of her siblings compiled affidavits detailing sexual abuse and confronted their father. He was recently released on bond while appealing a . James Bevel was born on October 19, 1936 (age 71) in Itta Bena, Mississippi, United States. 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). 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. Much of it was revealed during a 2008 trial that ended with her father, the Rev. He decides what's right and not right. And when I got the confirmation from other siblings that it happened to them as well it was something I had to do. He helped with initiating and directing the 1961 and 1962 voting rights movement in Mississippi. Do you think that's what it was? Martin Luther King Jr. and a force behind civil rights campaigns of the 1960s whose erratic behavior and conviction on incest charges. It doesn't necessarily make sense. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. In 1968, Mr. Bevel was at the Memphis motel where Dr. King was assassinated, and in a bizarre post-mortem, he claimed that the man who was arrested for (and later convicted of) the shooting, James Earl Ray, was not the killer and that he had evidence which he declined to reveal that Mr. Ray was innocent. Bevel receives 15-year sentence for incest - Washington Times The following day, when more students arrived at the church and started to walk to city hall, Eugene "Bull" Connor, City Commissioner of Public Safety, ordered that German Shepherd dogs and high-pressure fire hoses be used to stop them. Bevel then called off plans for the children's march. In spite of everything, I was a happy kid, resilient, she says. Watching her 3-year-old daughter, Athena, clad in a pink leotard, twirl around her bright downtown Washington apartment, Aaralyn Liese says she cant help but be reminded of her own childhood. Doctors estimate he has only six weeks to six months to live. What if I do, we do remove my little sister from the environment and what if she decides to go back when she's 17 or 18 to see her dad, and he does the same thing and she gets wrapped up in his spell. In the 1960s, Bevel was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, two of the stalwart organizations that led efforts to desegregate the South. The daughter testified that she went back because she had nowhere else to go. Bevel was born in 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of Illie and Dennis Bevel. I don't want to live that anymore. Mr. Bevel had been released from prison in November because he had pancreatic cancer.. John Railey writes local editorials for the Journal. [32] He engaged in LaRouche seminars on issues including "Is the Anti Defamation League the new KKK? 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. Bevel's daughter testified that she was repeatedly molested by Bevel beginning when she was just 6 years old, culminating in an act of sexual intercourse in 1993 or 1994 that formed the basis of the incest charge. And we try to stay on one side of what we think is right and good. ", (For more information about the support group, call Orrin at 722-4671.). Omissions? She is telling us her story of rape and recovery. She said . And when I left there, I began that process of deciding and designing how I wanted to live my life. I mean my little sister was 14 at that time, but what if you know - what can you really do? There was this American fellow, James Bevel, who initiated and organized the main events of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, and then turned around twice and initiated the first large-scale protests of the Anti-Vietnam War Movement. MARTIN: Your father's name is one that appears in many, many history books. Bevel pleaded not guilty to the one count charged and maintained his innocence. A wild man from Itta Bena, Mississippi, Taylor Branch called him in Parting the Waters, the first volume of his history of the civil rights movement, a self-described example of the legendary chicken-eating, liquor-drinking, woman-chasing Baptist preacher.. At the turn of the 20th century, southern state legislatures had passed new constitutions and laws that effectively disenfranchised most blacks. Things we often feel we have to keep hidden. He worked on a cotton plantation for a time as a youth and later in a steel mill. Bevel then launched into an extended explanation of his philosophy, which includes applying the teachings of the New Testament to the "science of constitutionality." And when she told me that everything I told her about what's happening as I was telling her that really hurt me. . She said that "his thought process was this worldwide movement was for us.". In the '80s he broke ranks to join the controversial Lyndon LaRouche, and in 2007 he was arrested on charges of sexually abusing one of his daughters. [28][29], Bevel moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in November 1990 as the leader of the "Citizens Fact-Finding Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations of Children in Nebraska", a group organized by the Schiller Institute. She. Mr. Bevel was Mr. LaRouches running mate in 1992, a time when Mr. LaRouche was serving time for fraud and tax evasion. I don't want to relive any of that. And I hid them in her purse or in her shoes and things. [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. James L. Bevel, a fiery top lieutenant of the Rev. I wrote her I love you letters, and you know, this was my day letters. The Movement began to stage regular marches to the county courthouse, which had limited hours for blacks to register as voters. American civil rights leader and politician, American comedian and civil rights activist. He was 72. The daughter is one of 16 children Bevel said he has had with several different women. Ms. MILLS: The hardest part was learning of everyone's story. James Bevel - Wikipedia *James Bevel was born on this date in 1936. 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. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. 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. She is the daughter of James Bevel who was recently convicted of molesting her when she was a child. The two agreed to work together to end segregation, obtain voting rights, and to ensure quality education for ALL children in America. And in order to make the case in the absence of physical evidence which is long since disappeared because you had grown up and moved away from being the zone of harm is that you confronted your father in a recorded monitored conversation with law enforcement where you confronted him about his behavior. Court testimony revealed that accusation had stemmed from a family reunion during which several family members recalled having been molested by Mr. Bevel. Happiness is amazing. James Bevel. . MARTIN: Have you spoken to your father since the trial? 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. Aaralyn Mills, good luck to you. Family members who confronted Bevel in 2004 during a family meeting testified that Bevel read a written accusation by his daughter and replied that he did not contest the facts as laid out by his daughter. King wanted to fill the jails with protesters, but it was becoming more difficult to find adults to march. Although Bevel initially intended to pursue a recording career, he felt called to Christian ministry. No one wants the government in their home. The accuser was one of his daughters, who was 1315 years old at the time and lived with him. The Rev. And that was the pretty much the catalyst for my understanding that maybe it's not just me that's feels uncomfortable, maybe this is wrong. Sherri talked a little about being the daughter of the iconic Civil Rights leaders. (Rebecca Drobis/COPYRIGHT REBECCA DROBIS 2008). James L. Bevel | Encyclopedia.com And I remember in school they talked about good touches and bad touches, but the difference was, I didn't trust the people in school. Market data provided by Factset. She said he told her, "I got you the right to vote. Sherri Bevel, the daughter of civil rights legends Diane Nash and James Bevel, discussing her work spreading Kingian Nonviolence in Chicago with partner organization the Addie Wyatt Center for Nonviolence Training at #URISummerinstitite2017. James L. Bevel, 71, a top . Almost 1,000 students were arrested on the first day. Faithful to My Father's Dream. [40], In 1961, Bevel married activist Diane Nash after he completed his seminary studies. In 2005, Bevel was accused of incest by one of his daughters and abuse by three others. Bevel proposed organizing the Alabama Voting Rights Project, and co-wrote the project proposal with his wife Diane Nash. He worked on a cotton plantation for a time as a youth and later in a steel mill. Liese also shares custody of an 11-year-old son with her first husband, with whom the boy lives. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1959 and went on to pastor the Chestnut Grove Baptist Church. Orrin has undergone years of counseling to deal with the abuse she said she suffered from her father. The Court of Appeals affirmed this judgment. The 15-year sentence imposed by Circuit Judge Burke McCahill was the most severe allowed. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The Rev. The judge . But first, we go behind Closed Doors, that's our weekly segment when we talk about painful issues. And my sisters and my brothers also, you know, because my brothers were also stood behind us 100 percent and said, you know we have to do something. At the time, Bevel was living in Leesburg, Virginia, and working with LaRouche's group, whose international headquarters was a few blocks from Bevel's apartment.
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