Rev. C.T. Vivian Remembered As Fearless Civil Rights Veteran, Loving Family Man
The voice and legacy of Rev. C.T. Vivian was memorialized at the Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta July 23 during a funeral that captured the spirit of one of the most courageous veterans of the Civil Rights movement.
Vivian, 95, died July 17 in Atlanta, the same day that Rep. John Lewis, 80, passed away after his battle with pancreatic cancer. During his life, Vivian spent most of his time outside of the limelight but this week his casket lay at the Georgia State Capital and then driven past the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change, where the slain Civil Rights leader and his Coretta Scott King are buried.
“Racism destroys more people psychologically than anything other factor in American society,” said Vivian in comments that he made on the Oprah Winfrey show that was rebroadcast during the service, limited to 50 people wearing masks and socially distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Photos and videos of C.T. Vivian were shown through the service as a tribute to his life.
During the service, Vice President Joe Biden, former UN Ambassador Andrew Young, TV icon Oprah Winfrey and baseball legend Hank Aaron gave video tributes. Seated in the audience were the children of deceased Civil Rights icons that included Martin Luther King III, the daughter of Rev. Joseph Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the son of former state Senator and activist Julian Bond.
“C.T. was truly a remarkable man, a man whose physical courage was exceeded only by his moral courage,” Biden said in the video. “A number of times he faced down being drowned, being beaten, being reviled only to stand up straight like a ramrod, bloodied but unbent to declare the truth that he saw so clearly.”
Rev. Jo Vivian presided over her father-in-law’s funeral and quoted 2 Timothy 1:7 to say that Vivian’s life is a testimony to the fact that “God has not given us a spirit of fear.”
Young said, Vivian never lost his mental fitness, even in his last days. “His voice was weak, but his mind was clear,” he said.
Several friends of Vivian’s also praised him for setting an example of a humble and loving Christian husband and father.
Oprah called Vivian, “a giant for Justice.” Growing up she was part of the Upward Bound program, a national organization for young people that Vivian helped found. “In his presence we were always learning more about what it means to stand up right.”
The service for C.T. Vivian was limited to 50 people in person, who wore masks and practiced social distancing. A livestream option was available through CBS Chanel 2 in Atlanta online and on air.
As Director of Affiliates for the SCLC, it was Vivian’s job to go into segregated towns and set up confrontations with racists for the national news to highlight the racism and segregation Black Americans faced.
On June 22, 1964, Vivian and other Civil Rights workers staged a “wade-in” on a segregated beach in St. Augustine. Florida after being confronted by an angry mob wielding clubs.
Vivian said the protest was all part of strategy called, “non-violent direct action,” where Civil Rights workers would target known racist and segregated venues across the South to stage protest.
Cordy Tindell Vivian was born in Boonville, Missouri. As a child, he and his mother moved to Macomb, Illinois, where he attended Lincoln Grade School, Edison Junior High School and Macomb High School, graduating in 1942.
Vivian assumed a major leadership role in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at the same time when Lewis would become the chair of the group.
On February 16, 1965 Vivian was registering people to vote in Selma, Alabama when he was confronted by a baton-wielding Dallas Country Sheriff Jim Clark and other officers.
In famous stand-off, Vivian pointed his finger at Clark and said, “What you’re really trying to do is intimidate these people and by making them stand in the rain keep them from registering to vote.”
Rev. Hosea Williams of Providence Missionary Baptist Church welcomed those gathered online and in-person to what he called a worship experience to give thanks to God for the good works the Lord accomplished through C.T. Vivian’s life.
In response, Clark hit Vivian so hard he fractured his own finger and two weeks later in Selma, Lewis and other protesters were beaten by Alabama state police under Clark’s orders as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
On August 8, 2013, President Barack Obama awarded Vivian with the Presidential Medal of Freedom because of his continued work in Civil Rights.
Martin Luther King III noted that Vivian and Lewis died on the same day in a recent TV interview.
"I guess, in one sense they wanted to have their last march together,” King III said. “Dr. Vivian… stood up to Jim Clark in Selma, Alabama. John Lewis walked over the Edmund Pettus Bridge with Jose Williams and was beaten – as we just heard once again – profusely.”
Martin Luther King III, Karen Lowery, daughter of the late Rev. Joe Lowery, and Michael Julian Bond, son of the late Julian Bond were present inside the church as well as Atlanta Mayor Keisha Butt Lance Bottoms.
”How do you say goodbye to the greatest person that I have ever known, ” said one of Vivian’s sons during the service. ”He counseled five Presidents… Martin Luther King called him the greatest teacher that he has ever known.”
During his eulogy, Rev. Gerald Durley, the retired pastor of Provident Missionary Baptist Church, said “C.T. Vivian gave credit to others…Today we honor C.T. Vivian. He stood boldly on his word. Dr. C.T. Vivian always looked out for the downtrodden. They knew his name. C.T. Vivian had a good name.”
Hamil Harris contributes to outlets such as The Washington Post, USA Today, The Christian Chronicle and the Washington Informer. Harris is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland College Park and has been a lecturer at Morgan State University. Harris is minister at the Glenarden Church of Christ and a police chaplain. A longtime reporter at The Washington Post, Harris was on the team of Post reporters that published the series “Being a Black Man.” He also was the reporter on the video project that accompanied the series that won two Emmy Awards, the Casey Medal and the Peabody Award.