Bernard Lee (activist)
Bernard Lee (October 2, 1935 – February 10, 1991) was an activist and member of the
Civil Rights Movement
Lee began his civil rights career as a student at
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 Martin Luther King Jr, where he contributed to the Poor People’s Campaign and was at 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
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."[5]
Lee worked on the
Lee was directly privy to FBI targeting of King under
Later life
Lee worked during the Carter administration as a civil rights advisor to the
In 1985, Lee received a master's degree in Divinity from Howard University, and became the chaplain at Lorton Prison in Virginia.[3]
In 1989, he was involved in a public dispute with Ralph Abernathy over Abernathy's book And the Walls Came Tumbling Down. Lee criticized Abernathy's book, which supported rumors about King's extramarital sex life.[9][10]
Lee died of heart failure in 1991.[11]
See also
References
- ISBN 9780817311445, pp. 75–76.
- ISBN 9780817311445, pp. 70–71.
- ^ a b c d "Lee, Bernard Scott (1935-1991)", Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, accessed 7 November 2012.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.)
- ^ Michael Blim, "Abernathy's civil-rights group falters: Money troubles persist", Christian Science Monitor, 29 August 1974, p. 5B.
- ^ "Judge orders seal on King wiretaps", Deseret News (UPI), 1 February 1977.
- ^ Terrence Smith, "Black Aids Discuss Concern Over Carter Record", New York Times, 16 May 1979; accessed via ProQuest.
- ^ Ralph Abernathy interview with Brian Lamb, C-SPAN, 29 October 1989.
- ^ James S. Kunen, Jane Sanderson, Tom Nugent, Elizabeth Velez, "A Bitter Battle Erupts Over the Last Hours of Martin Luther King", People 32(18), 30 October 1989.
- ^ "Obituary: Rev. Bernard Lee, 55, Civil Rights Advocate". The New York Times. February 14, 1991. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
External links
- Photos of Lee at the Atlanta History Center
- Bernard Lee biography Stanford University Martin Luther King, Jr. Research & Education Institute