BHERC

A scholar with wit and charm, a lieutenant armed with tenacity and courage to sustain brutal physical beatings for his commitment to racial equality & justice.

LOS ANGELES, CA, US, July 19, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- (Los Angeles, CA) The Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) mourns the loss civil rights Lieutenant Rev. Cordy Tindell "C.T." Vivian. A distinguished minister, author, and organizer, Rev. Vivian was known as a kind and loving man and one of the greatest preachers of the time.

Among the many accomplishment of Rev. Vivian, he was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and friend to Martin Luther King, Jr., he participated in Freedom Rides and sit-ins across our country. Vivian also helped found numerous civil rights organizations, including Vision, the National Anti-Klan Network, and the Center for Democratic Renewal.

Rev. Vivian served as a founding member of the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference, an affiliate of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, NVLP said. The group helped organize the city's first sit-ins and civil rights march; he served as the director of national affiliates for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference when he led a group of people to register to vote in Selma, Alabama. As Sheriff Jim Clark blocked the group, Vivian said in a fiery tone, "We will register to vote because as citizens of the United States we have the right to do it." Clark responded by beating Vivian until blood dripped off his chin in front of rolling cameras. The images helped galvanize wider support for change. One Rev. Vivian’s most significant accomplishments was the creation of a college readiness program which the US Department of Education used as a guide to create Upward Bound, which was designed to improve high school and college graduation rates for students in underserved communities. Upward Bound still exists today sending students to colleges all over the country. In 2012, he returned to serve as interim President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

In 2008, Vivian founded the C.T. Vivian Leadership Institute, which the group says is dedicated to creating “a model leadership culture for the purpose of training and educating the new generation of grassroots leaders.” Vivian continued to preach and lecture throughout his eighties on racial equality, civil right, and justice. Promoting his long-held belief that ministry, faith and the pursuit of civil rights were indivisible. On August 8, 2013, President Barack Obama named Vivian as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work in civil rights. Over the years, Vivian consulted with five presidents — Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Obama — on civil rights matters.

“A scholar with wit and charm, a lieutenant armed with the tenacity and courage to sustain brutal physical beatings for his commitment to racial equality and justice, the right of all US citizens to vote and to have a first class education, this is how we will remember this giant of the civil right movement. As a beacon guiding our path as we build on the foundation that he and the other giants of the civil rights era laid for us.” Sandra Evers-Manly.

For more information about BHERC and its programs log on to www.bherc.org or email bherc@bherc.org or call 310.284.3170 or 213.400.3489. #BHERCOperationLove #BHERCStrongerTogether

About the BHERC - Founded in 1996 by Sandra Evers-Manly, the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center is a nonprofit, public benefit organization designed to advocate, educate, research, develop, and preserve the history and future of Black images in film and television. Through film festivals, award ceremonies, book signings, script readings, contests, scholarships, other programs, and special events, BHERC recognizes the contributions of Black men and women in front of and behind the scenes in the entertainment industry.

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Lura Ball
Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center
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