Bernard Lafayette facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bernard Lafayette
|
|
|---|---|
Lafayette in 2020
|
|
| Born | July 29, 1940 Tampa, Florida, U.S.
|
| Education | Highlander Folk School |
| Alma mater | American Baptist College Harvard Graduate School of Education |
| Known for | Activism in the Civil Rights Movement |
Bernard Lafayette Jr. (born July 29, 1940) is an American civil rights leader. He is also a Baptist minister. Bernard Lafayette played a very important role in the Civil Rights Movement. He helped organize the Selma Voting Rights Movement. He was also part of the Nashville Student Movement. Throughout the 1960s, he worked closely with groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
Contents
Bernard Lafayette's Childhood
Bernard Lafayette was born and grew up in Tampa, Florida. His parents were Bernard Lafayette Sr. and Verdell Lafayette. Bernard was the oldest of eight children. His family was poor, so Bernard started working at age 11. He did many different jobs to help his family. He worked as a cashier, cut meat, delivered food, and collected money at a coffee shop. Bernard said that he "had to grow up rapidly" and "didn't have a childhood."
Even though he was Black in the Southern United States, Bernard first went to a school where Black and white students learned together. Later, he went to schools that were separated by race. He remembered seeing the big differences between the two worlds. Bernard also remembered experiencing racism when he was young. When he was seven, he and his grandmother, Ma Foster, tried to ride a cable car. Black people had to pay at the front but enter through the back. The driver took their money and drove off before they could get on. This made Bernard realize he wanted to fight for fair treatment for African Americans.
Early Life and Work for Change
Bernard Lafayette married Kate Bulls Lafayette in 1969. He had two sons, Bernard Lafayette III and James Lafayette Sr., with his first wife, Colia Liddell Lafayette. His children said Bernard was a loving father. He never yelled or got angry with his family. They were a very close family. James became a preacher, inspired by his father. Bernard Lafayette III went to American Baptist College.
When he was 20, Lafayette moved to Nashville, Tennessee. He studied at the American Baptist Theological Seminary. During his first year, he learned about nonviolence. He took classes at the Highlander Folk School and went to many meetings about peaceful protest. He learned about the ideas of nonviolence from Mohandas Gandhi. He also took classes from activist James Lawson.
Lafayette started using nonviolent methods to fight racial injustice. In 1959, he joined friends like Diane Nash, James Bevel, and John Lewis. They were all part of the Nashville Student Movement. In 1960, they led peaceful protests called Lunch Counter Sit-Ins. They sat at segregated restaurants and businesses to protest unfair rules. Lafayette also helped start the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. This group focused on nonviolent action.
The Freedom Rides
In 1961, a group called the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) started the Freedom Rides. This movement aimed to make sure federal laws about integrated buses were followed. Black and white volunteers rode buses together through the segregated South. Lafayette wanted to join, but his parents said no. After some Freedom Riders were attacked in Anniston, Alabama, the Nashville Student Movement decided to continue the rides. Some civil rights leaders worried the rides were too dangerous. But the Nashville students were determined to finish the journey.
In May 1961, Lafayette and other riders arrived in Montgomery, Alabama. An angry white mob, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, attacked them. The Freedom Riders were badly beaten. Their attackers used baseball bats, wooden boards, bricks, chains, and other weapons.
During the attack in Montgomery, Lafayette stayed strong. His friends William Barbee and John Lewis were beaten until they passed out. Lafayette, Fred Leonard, and Allen Cason barely escaped. They jumped over a wall and ran to the post office. Inside, people were acting like nothing was happening outside. Lafayette thought he heard gunshots aimed at the Freedom Riders. But it was the sound of Alabama's Director of Public Safety, Floyd Mann, firing his gun to protect the riders.
Lafayette and other Riders were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi. They were jailed at Parchman State Prison Farm in June 1961. During his work for civil rights, Lafayette was beaten and arrested 27 times.
Working for Change in Selma
In the summer of 1962, Lafayette began working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Selma, Alabama. His wife, Colia Liddell Lafayette, also worked with him there.
When he arrived in February 1963, he started holding meetings. He talked about the unfair treatment of African Americans in the South. He encouraged local African Americans to share their own stories. He met with leaders of the Dallas County Voters League. On June 12, 1963, Lafayette was badly beaten by a white attacker. This happened on the same night that Medgar Evers was murdered in Mississippi. Even though he was hurt, Lafayette kept working.
In late 1964, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) decided to join the Alabama Project. This project was organized by James Bevel, Diane Nash, and James Orange. They chose Selma as the main place to focus on getting voting rights for African Americans. In early 1965, Lafayette, Bevel, Martin Luther King Jr., Orange, Nash, and others organized many public protests. These protests, especially the march from Selma to Montgomery started by Bevel, put pressure on the government. This support helped President Lyndon Johnson demand the creation and passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law helped protect the right to vote for all Americans.
Life After Selma
After Selma, Lafayette worked on the 1966 Chicago Open Housing Movement. He had worked in Chicago before with other leaders. He later became a Baptist minister. He also served as president of the American Baptist Theological Seminary.
In 1973, Lafayette became the first director of the Peace Education Program at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota. This program helped teach about peace throughout the college's courses. Lafayette worked there for almost three years. He was also the dean of the graduate school at Alabama State University.
Bernard Lafayette is known as a major expert on how to make social change peacefully. He is also seen as one of the world's leading teachers of nonviolent direct action.
He was a Senior Fellow at the University of Rhode Island. There, he helped start the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. This Center teaches about nonviolence using the ideas of Martin Luther King Jr.. He is also a special scholar at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Currently, he is a scholar-in-residence at Auburn University.
Lafayette has received many honors. He was given a Doctor of Humane Letters from Mount Holyoke College in May 2012. In 2014, the University of Rhode Island gave him an honorary doctorate for his lifelong leadership in nonviolence and civil rights. In 2015, he received another honorary degree and spoke at the graduation of St. Michael's College. In 2019, he received the Coretta Scott King Legacy Award.
After his work in Selma, Bernard wrote several books. These books share his experiences in the civil rights movement. They also explain his ideas about nonviolence. Some of his books include The Leaders Manual: A Structured Guide and Introduction to Kingian Nonviolence, The Briefing Booklet: An Orientation to the Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation Program, and In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma. His story is also in the 2006 book Generation on Fire: Voices of Protest from the 1960s by Jeff Kisseloff.
See also
- List of civil rights leaders
- List of peace activists
