|
Bernard Lee (2 October 1935 – 10 February 1991) was an activist and member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. He was key associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ==Civil Rights Movement== Lee began his civil rights career as a student at Alabama State College, from which he was expelled after leading more than half the student body in a march on the Alabama capitol.〔Patterson Toby Graham, ''A Right to Read: Segregation and Civil Rights in Alabama's Public Libraries, 1900-1965'', University of Alabama Press, 2002, ISBN 9780817311445, pp. 75–76.〕 During demonstrations for equal library access in 1960, he said: "My grandfather had only a prayer to help him. I have a prayer and an education."〔Patterson Toby Graham, ''A Right to Read: Segregation and Civil Rights in Alabama's Public Libraries, 1900-1965'', University of Alabama Press, 2002, ISBN 9780817311445, pp. 70–71.〕 Bernard Lee was a courageous student activist, a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). While attending Alabama State University (ASU), he led a sit-in at the Alabama state capitol cafeteria. He was expelled from ASU for the event after the governor threatened the university president, saying he would withhold funding from the HBCU if Lee was not expelled. So, he transferred to Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia to work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Dr. King, where he contributed to the Poor People’s Campaign and was at Dr. King’s side after his assassination. Lee later worked for the U.S. Government under President Carter and for Washington D.C. under Mayor Barry (Source NAACP 2014) (http://www.blackpast.org/aah/morris-brown-college-1885) Lee was King's personal assistant and traveling companion for many years. He was arrested with King in 1960 and left the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1961 so that he could work full-time with King and the SCLC. He participated in the 1961 freedom rides and helped to orchestrate the Birmingham Campaign in 1963.〔"Lee, Bernard Scott (1935-1991)", ''Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute'', accessed 7 November 2012.〕 He went to Chicago with King in 1965. In January 1967, he was one of few in to accompany King to Jamaica while he wrote ''Where Do We Go From Here?''〔Steve Fayer, Henry Hampton, ''(Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950s Through the 1980s )'', Random House Digital, 1991.〕 Lee was closer to King than any other member of the Civil Rights Movement, so much that by some accounts he began to identify with King completely. According to historian Taylor Branch: "Lee had already come to dress like King, walk like King, and even to imitate King's long, measured phrases."〔Taylor Branch, ''Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63'', New York: 9780671687427, Simon & Schuster, 1989, ISBN , p. 558. (See: ''America in the King Years''.)〕 Lee worked on the Poor People's Campaign after King's death in 1968.〔 He also became vice president of the SCLC, which diminished in power over the following years.〔Michael Blim, "Abernathy's civil-rights group falters: Money troubles persist", ''Christian Science Monitor'', 29 August 1974, p. 5B.〕 Lee was directly privy to FBI targeting of King under COINTELPRO, having been present when King received a letter from the FBI urging him to commit suicide.〔 Lee sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1977 in an effort to force the release of recordings of King, collected by FBI wiretaps and bugs. Judge John Lewis denied the request and ordered the records sealed for 50 years.〔"(Judge orders seal on King wiretaps )", ''Deseret News'' (UPI), 1 February 1977.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bernard Lee (activist)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|