Bernard Lafayette was born on July 29 th , 1940. He is also called Lafayette Junior. Bernard spent his early childhood in the small town of Tampa, Florida. When he was 18, Bernard attended the American Baptist Theological Seminary 1 . During his freshman years, he showed interest in learning how to be a good leader and speaking out for the oppressed. During his sophomore year at the Seminary, Bernard started attending meetings arranged by James Lawson. The meetings were held weekly, and they mainly revolved around good leadership and the emerging issues that were affecting Americans at that time. Through these meetings, Bernard got a lot of insight of the injustices and discriminations that were laced in the system. The host of the meetings, James Lawson, acted on a representative capacity of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. This fellowship was notably involved in contacting Martin Luther King during the Montgomery bus boycott 2 .
From 1958 to 1959, Bernard learned nonviolence techniques. Lawson facilitated most of the lessons. However, occasional partnerships with Nashville’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was also induced during the sessions. At this tentative age, Bernard was molded into a good leader who learned civilized methods of airing grievances as opposed to barbaric ways. Notably, also, Bernard took these sessions with fellow students including Diane Nash, John Lewis, and James Bevel. Lawson’s sessions influenced the students very much, and by the end of 1959, Bernard and a few of his friends started conducting small meetings in abandoned restaurants. They discussed pertinent issues affecting them as young men and the country as a whole. During the Easter weekend of 1960, Ella Baker organized a conference under SCLC and Bernard attended. This conference was very instrumental in the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
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Career
The career life of Bernard was diverse. He worked as a Civil Rights Movement activist, an educator (teacher), lecturer, and minister. His early career began after the 1960 conference when he co-founded the SNCC. In the same year, Lafayette became the leader of the Nashville Movement. The Supreme Court declared the segregation in interstate travel facilities as unconstitutional (Boynton v Virginia) in 1960. Bernard and Lewis boarded a bus back to the Seminary where they sat in the front and refused to move. In 1961, Bernard recruited his fellow students to participate in Freedom Rides 3 . This was in response to Congress’ racial equality announcement. Later that year, Bernard and his friends were attacked by the Ku Klux Klan, but Martin Luther King intervened. Lafayette was also arrested in Mississippi and served 40 days in Parchman Penitentiary because of recruiting minors to ride in the buses.
Lafayette became the director of the SNCC’s Alabama Voter Registration Project. This was mainly to ensure that all voters in America had equal rights to vote for the leaders they wanted. In addition, Lafayette aimed at scrapping off any racial or gender-based discrimination in voting. Together with his wife, Colia, Lafayette began running voter registration clinics in Selma in February 1962 4 . Many Americans became aware of the efforts Lafayette was making to ensure equity in voting. This led to Lafayette and his wife being hired by the American Friends Service Committee. The Committee recruited them so that they could begin testing the nonviolent methods in Chicago.
When Martin Luther King launched the SCLC’s Chicago Campaign in 1966, he appointed Lafayette to help in planning and execution of the campaign’s direct action plan. Here, Lafayette with the help of his wife devised campaign strategies and other methods they would use to mobilize the segregated demographics of Chicago and America at large 5 . Lafayette maintained his roles and responsibilities in Chicago for several months before he was given another responsibility. In 1968, he took on a role in the Poor People’s Campaign. This occurred after the tragic assassination of Martin Luther King 6 . In 1972, Lafayette received his MED from the Harvard University. In 1974, he received his doctorate.
Lafayette and Selma
Throughout his career, Lafayette played various roles in different movements. All of these movements revolved around equity and human rights. When Lafayette accepted the 1962 position to work with SNCC, most of his roles were based in Selma, Alabama. This is where some of his most significant work was evidenced. He was able to conduct meetings where he spoke to young African Americans about his experiences and what they would expect when they are trying to make ends meet. He offered insight to young people on working hard to defy odds and build better lives for themselves. It is during his work in Selma that Lafayette was attacked and beaten severely by a white assailant 7 .
Bibliography
Carawan, Guy, and Candie Carawan. Sing for Freedom: the Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs . Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2007.
Fleming, Cynthia Griggs. In the shadow of Selma: the continuing struggle for civil rights in the rural South . Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.
Kramer, Lloyd. S . Lafayette in Two Worlds : Public Cultures and Personal Identities in an Age of Revolutions . University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
LaFayette, Bernard, and Kathryn Lee. Johnson. In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma . Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2013.
