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. 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. Bevel was forced from his position in the SCLC after exhibiting erratic behaviour. The Rev. [40], In 1961, Bevel married activist Diane Nash after he completed his seminary studies. Ms. MILLS: Well, I don't understand it. But what options do they have. After a stint in the services, Bevel was called to the ministry and enrolled in the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. By the time they entered Montgomery 54 miles away, the marchers were thousands strong. 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. Just a man with human frailty perhaps incapable of facing himself in the end.". A fight broke out between LaRouche supporters and black nationalists.[34]. In 1961 James and Diane were married. 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. LEESBURG, Va. A jury on Thursday convicted an iconic figure in the civil rights movement of incest, after concluding that he had sex with his teenage daughter 15 years ago. I don't want to relive any of that. She was kind enough to join us here on our Washington studio. [15] Diane Nash, the Nashville Student Movement's chairman, urged the group to continue the Freedom Rides, and called for college volunteers from Fisk and other universities across the South. He was a Black Civil rights activist and minister. How many of your sisters? 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. Vivian and others, Bevel participated in the Nashville Sit-In Movement organized by Nash, whom he would later marry to desegregate the city's lunch counters. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Instead, she told the jury to focus on the single incident for which Bevel is charged: an act of sexual intercourse that occurred in 1993 or 1994 while the daughter was a teenager and was living with her father in Leesburg. Bevel never submitted the collected petitions and left the state the following summer. They divorced after seven years. I mean my little sister was 14 at that time, but what if you know - what can you really do? She testified Tuesday that he had sexual intercourse with her when she was 15 in the early 1990s after he pressured her by saying the sex would relieve him from demons that were sapping his strength. [24], In the 1980s, Bevel supported Ronald Reagan as president. It doesn't necessarily make sense. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. [31], In 1992, Bevel ran on LaRouche's ticket as the vice presidential candidate. [32] He engaged in LaRouche seminars on issues including "Is the Anti Defamation League the new KKK? Thank you so much for speaking with us. We have great country we live in that had slavery. "We continue to cloak and veil child sexual abuse in shame and secrecy. He had 2 children Sherri Bevel, Douglass Bevel. In the 1960s, Bevel was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student. It includes this line: I'm gonna keep on a-walkin', Lord, keep on a-talking, Lord, marching up to freedom land. MARTIN: Your father's name is one that appears in many, many history books. And I realized that, one, that it wasn't just you know, one way to live. 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. And as if it was a conspiracy against him. Market data provided by Factset. 1 and Tennessee was No. One of the reasons you pressed charges and it was decided that you would press charges is it's the statute of limitations in Virginia which is where this acts took place allowed him to be prosecuted. In March 1965, Mr. Bevel, a fiery orator, spoke at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma, Ala., the starting point of a symbolic march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where demonstrators had been beaten two days earlier a day remembered as Bloody Sunday in a first attempt to march to Montgomery to protest discriminatory voting practices. That it's supposed to be only for procreation, and you have to be forced to see that, just like you have to be forced to accept nonviolence by getting beaten. In the 1960s, Bevel was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), two of the stalwart organizations that led efforts to desegregate the South. The daughter is one of at least 14 children Bevel has with several different women, according to her testimony on Monday. While in the Seminary, Bevel joined the Nashville chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), then led by the Reverend . There's no exception" Wittmann said. And then things I never understood as parents. 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. [41] He married two other women in the following decades, and had told the court during his incest case that he had 16 children born of seven women. James Bevel was born on October 19, 1936 (age 71) in Itta Bena, Mississippi, United States. As the Chicago movement neared its conclusion A. J. Muste, David Dellinger, representatives of North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, and others asked Bevel to take over the directorship of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. Ms. MILLS: Yeah, that could be some, definitely can. Forgiving her father, says Liese, now 32, allows her to hold on to good; it lets her hear her own laughter in her daughters. Liese also shares custody of an 11-year-old son with her first husband, with whom the boy lives. 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. . And then, so what are the options for children? Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. 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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. "I do love my father," she wrote me in a follow-up e-mail. "Saying 'I'm sorry' is a game we play. Weeks of demonstrations and marches resulted in King, Ralph Abernathy, and Shuttlesworth being arrested and jailed. [13] While at seminary, Bevel reread Leo Tolstoy's 1894 book The Kingdom of God Is Within You, which had previously inspired his decision to leave the military. And I wanted so much for him, not just to be a grandfather for grandfather's sake, but for him to find healing in himself and to come to some peace in himself so that he could be a grandfather and father. 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. She shares her story, reflections about her father, and her experience as an abuse survivor. He was 72. Daughter reconciles conflicting images of famous father. Related Videos Bloody Sunday (TV-14; 4:10) SNCC had been conducting a Voting Rights Project (headed by Prathia Hall and Worth Long) since the early 1960s, meeting with violence in Alabama. MARTIN: Have you spoken to your father since the trial? Four other daughters make allegationsProsecutors estimated that Bevel, who is eligibile for parole, would serve no more than five years if he were to live that long. "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. Unable to have children of their own, the Hamers adopted two daughters. All rights reserved. He grew up in rural LeFlore County of the Mississippi Delta and in Cleveland. [38], Bevel's attorney requested that the Court of Appeals of Virginia abate the conviction on account of Bevel's death. 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. How much you describe it? Its so amazing it doesnt matter if its yours or not. Orrin has undergone years of counseling to deal with the abuse she said she suffered from her father. Blake excels at uncovering the questions gnawing at his subjects. [8][9], Bevel soon became SCLC's Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education to augment King's positions as SCLC's Chairman and spokesperson. In the phone call between Bevel and his daughter, Bevel never made an explicit admission that he had sexual intercourse with his daughter. This movement ended within a Summit Conference that included Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. "[33] When Bevel introduced LaRouche at a convention of the 1996 National African American Leadership Summit, both men were booed off the stage. At trial, Bevel denied committing the sexual act and his recorded statement was used against him. 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. Orrin said she too was molested by her father when she was a child. There are a lot of people who would have run in the other direction, who would have just, look I am gone - I don't - I can't deal with this. "Everyone dies. We will have a link to it on our website. In 2007, one of his daughters accused him of molesting her in the 90s. And I hid them in her purse or in her shoes and things. The large group were bludgeoned and tear-gassed in what became known as "Bloody Sunday". [37] On October 15, 2008, the judge sentenced him, based on the jury's recommendation, to 15 years in prison and fined him $50,000. He is awaiting sentence now. Accuracy and availability may vary. He was convicted earlier this year of having sex 15 years ago with his then-teenage daughter in Virginia. He helped with initiating and directing the 1961 and 1962 voting rights movement in Mississippi. In this same period, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) had organized the 1961 Freedom Rides through the Deep South to challenge southern state laws and practices that interstate buses and their facilities remain segregated despite federal laws for equal treatment. Bevel was born in 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of Illie and Dennis Bevel. "My hope was for him to apologize in a Christian way, to repent. The Court of Appeals affirmed this judgment. I'm Michel Martin, and this is tell me more from NPR News. He was 72. In the 1960s, Bevel was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership. Hoffman said there were questions about the timeline the daughter said she could not recall exactly what year the act occurred, and her recollection of when she lived in Virginia did not fully mesh with school records and other testimony. [12], In 1960, along with James Lawson's and Myles Horton's students Bernard Lafayette, John Lewis, Diane Nash, C.T. [5] He suggested that SCLC call for and join a March on Washington in 1963. 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. Naval Reserve in 1954 and 1955 before entering the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. Bevel was born in 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of Illie and Dennis Bevel. She'd like to see abusers get help as well. That's a playboy talking to a prostitute," Bevel said on the witness stand shortly before he was sentenced. He grew up working on a cotton plantation, all the time wondering "what can I possibly do to make a difference in ending segregation?" James Bevel (far left) outside the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama, Birmingham News, crmvet.org We are not just, you know, one way all the time. Log In. Their meetings occurred at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, and it was from there that Bevel directed the students, 50 at a time, to peacefully walk to Birmingham's City Hall to talk to Mayor Art Hanes about segregation in the city. I don't believe so. [13] King was initially reluctant, but agreed. One, their own stories, each of them being able to tell their stories to me and for us to share. Mr. Bevel had been released from prison in November because he had pancreatic cancer.. Social services would have taken custody of Orrin and her siblings if they pressed charges, Orrin said her mother told her. But when I was there, I actually saw it. (Rebecca Drobis/COPYRIGHT REBECCA DROBIS 2008). Ms. AARALYN MILLS (Abuse Victim): Thank you for having me. In March 1965 protesters made a symbolic march, inspired by a fiery speech by Bevel at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, where much organizing was done. While working on SNCC's commitment to desegregate theaters, Bevel successfully directed the 1961 Nashville Open Theater Movement. He renamed the organization the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, recruited members of many diverse groups, and organized the April 15, 1967 march from Central Park to the United Nations Building in New York City. I love him for his role in the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the vote I was able to cast that helped put a man of color in the White House. Housing in the area was segregated in a de facto way, enforced by covenants and real estate practices. Ms. MILLS: Perhaps. And it reminded us that those feelings of being ashamed and alone can be magnified when the perpetrator is in a position of trust, highly regarded by the community, perhaps a family member. James Bevel, one of the architects of the civil rights movement, a chief lieutenant to Dr. Martin Luther King, was also a child molester. Later efforts in Mississippi developed as Freedom Summer in 1964, when extensive voter education and registration efforts took place. In 2005, Bevel was accused of incest by one of his daughters and abuse by three others. That was our hope, but he wasn't ready to look at himself. Recently, Mills shared her story in the Washington Post Magazine, and she joins us now. During the trial, Bevel's daughter testified that she was repeatedly molested by Bevel beginning when she was just 6 years old, culminating in sexual intercourse in 1993 or 1994 that formed the basis of the incest charge. [6] Bevel went to the children and asked them to prepare to take to the highways for a march on Washington, with the goal of questioning the President about his plans to end legal segregation in America. You still found the strength to get together to try to rescue this younger sibling who was still in harm's way, according to what you had experienced. [13] Virginia had no statute of limitations for the offense of incest. What if that does happen? American civil rights leader and politician, American comedian and civil rights activist. LaRouche, characterized as a perennial candidate, was serving a prison sentence for mail fraud and tax evasion. I mean, I remember being afraid of being taken from my home, you know that that was an option that I could be leaved and I would have to stay at a foster home, and I had these horrible images that foster homes would be worse. James Luther Bevel, one of 17 children, was born on Oct 19, 1936, in Itta Bena, in central Mississippi, and divided his childhood between there and Cleveland, where he worked in the steel mills as a teenager. [citation needed]. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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. I think the community has not yet figured out what's the proper response to deal with pedophilia," said Orrin, who runs the WhiteSpace Gallery with her husband and is an administrator at Winston-Salem State University. Faithful to My Father's Dream. James L. Bevel, 71, a top . 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. In 1962 Bevel met with Rev. I don't want to live that anymore. MARTIN: How many siblings do you believe were abused by your father? And I'd never see my brothers and sisters again. Nonetheless, Dr. King relied on his counsel. He was also the largely absent father, Orrin said, who molested her one night when she was 12. [9] As the first march reached the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge and passed out of the city, they were attacked by county police and Alabama State Troopers. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The judge . James L. Bevel, a fiery top lieutenant of the Rev. A bubbly toddler might not seem to have much in common with the daughter of a convicted child molester, but Liese sees only the similarities as Athena slips on the kitchen floor and bounces back, still laughing. From the Helen L. Bevel Archives, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Bevel&oldid=1146647965, Statements by Rev. After leaving the SCLC the year prior, Bevel created the Making of the Man Clinic in 1970. As a girl she was repeated molested by her father the Reverend James Bevel, one of the most brilliant and daring strategists of the civil rights movement, an Icon. At the sentencing hearing, the victims said they were hoping that Bevel would apologize for his actions and seek forgiveness and reconciliation. She wrote a remarkable series of articles that told his story as well as her own. MARTIN: And you did try to tell your mother what was happening? [8][9] His last major action was as co-initiator of the 1995 Day of Atonement/Million Man March in Washington, D.C. For his work, Bevel has been called the strategist and architect of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement[10] and, with Dr. King, half of the first-tier team that formulated many of the strategies and actions to gain federal legislation and social changes during the 1960s civil rights era.[8][9]. [6] Bevel strategized the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, which contributed to Congressional passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. When:August 3-4, 2016, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm daily Trainers:Mary Lou Finley, Pam Smith & Gail Schechter With remarks on nonviolence by Sherri Bevel, daughter of Chicago civil rights activists James Bevel and Diane Nash LEARNyCONNECTyORGANIZE The beloved community Six Principles and Six Steps How to conduct a nonviolent campaign MARTIN: If you are just joining us, I'm speaking with Aaralyn Mills. Another daughter, Sherilynn Bevel, confirmed the death, The Washington Post reported. At a family reunion, three other daughters had also alleged that Bevel sexually abused them. In the melee, Jackson was shot in the stomach while defending his mother from an attack. 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. She filed for divorce in 2010 and fought to share custody of Athena. James L. Bevel, 71, a top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. who is also credited with helping to conceive and organize the Million Man March, faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced. 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. And he usually - he played the role of judge and jury in these meetings. It happened in the Memphis area when she staying with her father while her mother was out of town. The daughter is one of 16 children Bevel said he has had with several different women. A top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for incest. Mr. Bevel was Mr. LaRouches running mate in 1992, a time when Mr. LaRouche was serving time for fraud and tax evasion. James Bevel was one of the key strategists of the civil rights movement. We didn't know each other really, and we were just getting to know each other, but I didn't know how difficult it would be. And my little sister who had a more recent experience in Chicago, she could have, but she could not talk. And know that it could come back to them pretty harsh. [13] Six weeks later he died of cancer, at the age of 72, in Springfield, Virginia. 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. James Bevel, was an icon of the civil-rights movement who worked closely with the Rev. But it's this idea that he was teaching all his daughters to look at the evils in the world and within men whatever - whoever the man was, whether it's your father or the guy next door or your husband. MARTIN: Sounds like you would have made a hell of an organizer? King asked Bevel to refrain from recruiting students, and Bevel instead said that he would organize the children to march to Washington D.C. to meet with Kennedy about segregation, and King agreed. In April 2008 he was convicted of committing incest with one of his daughters and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. James L. Bevel, The Freedom Rides, This page was last edited on 26 March 2023, at 04:18. But Bevel testified and denied the charge. Some protesters were jailed, but the movement kept the pressure on. *James Bevel was born on this date in 1936. The 15-year sentence imposed by Circuit Judge Burke McCahill was the most severe allowed. Though initially reluctant, Dr. King finally agreed. 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]. And I always thought that was odd and that people would do something that's not going to be forgotten. And there is plenty of darkness. "It's fading, but I still have a strong feeling that my father was doing something, that he was working on some truth," said Mills, who agreed to be identified publicly. [23] Bevel continued to oppose the Poor People's Campaign, but served as its Director of Nonviolent Education. [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. He often wore overalls over a shirt and tie; he shaved his head and sometimes covered it with a yarmulke in honor of Old Testament prophets. Eventually, her former husband agreed. One of his daughters, Aaralyn Mills, accused Bevel of molesting her as a child and having sex with her once in the 1990s, when she was a teenager. Updates? She wants to help them by starting a monthly support group, WhiteSpace SafeSpace, that will meet at her gallery. [18] Bevel and Nash did not attend, and instead watched Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech on television.
