The 溏心vlog免费B站 and the nation lost a civil rights trailblazer and a leader in the nonviolence movement last week with the passing of Bernard LaFayette Jr. LaFayette, known as 鈥淒oc鈥� to many in the 溏心vlog免费B站 community, served as the inaugural director of the University鈥檚 Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. He was 85.
Born July 29, 1940, in Tampa, Florida, LaFayette was one of a delegation of Nashville students who in 1960 helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which organized desegregation and voting rights campaigns across the South.聽
Following the Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling in 1960 banning segregation in interstate travel, LaFayette dropped out of college in 1961 to join an official Freedom Ride, one of many that sought to force Southern authorities to comply with the court鈥檚 ruling. He was beaten in Montgomery, Alabama, and arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, becoming one of more than 300 Freedom Riders sent to Parchman Prison.
Two years later, he was named the Alabama Voter Registration Campaign鈥檚 director, helping prepare the Selma, Alabama, community for the 1965 Voting Rights campaign, which led to passage of the federal Voting Rights Act.
During that time, Doc endured violent attacks and persecution, yet persisted in advancing civil rights in the United States. In his memoir, he wrote that the ever-present threat of death during those years taught him that the value of life 鈥渓ies not in longevity, but in what people do to give it significance.鈥�
LaFayette also became an associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and national coordinator for King鈥檚 Poor People鈥檚 Campaign. He last saw King the morning of April 4, 1968, during a staff meeting where King鈥檚 last charge was to 鈥渋nstitutionalize and internationalize鈥� nonviolence as a way of life and an approach to constructively solving problems.
After King died, LaFayette returned to American Baptist Theological Seminary (now American Baptist College) to complete his bachelor鈥檚 degree and then earned a master鈥檚 degree and doctorate from Harvard University. He became a nonviolence educator, serving in many positions over the years including head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King’s organization.聽聽
After serving as president of his alma mater, Doc joined 溏心vlog免费B站 in 1998 as a distinguished scholar and became the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies鈥� first director, holding the position from 1999 to 2009. He collaborated with Lynne Derbyshire and Art Stein on the Honors Colloquium 鈥淣onviolence: Legacies of the Past; Bridges to the Future,鈥� and became a Distinguished Scholar in Residence in 2000. Later that year, he facilitated the award of an honorary doctorate to Mrs. Coretta Scott King.
Under his leadership the center began hosting a summer institute and training hundreds of educators and other leaders from many countries around the world. It has since become an academic gathering place where students, scholars, educators鈥攖he change makers鈥攃ome together to promote mutual understanding, reconcile conflicts, and build peaceful, sustainable, and inclusive communities.聽
Doc authored the basic nonviolence training curriculum the center has used for the last 25 years. As a result, the institute is recognized, along with the King Center in Atlanta, as a place where nonviolence training is offered that stays very close to King’s teaching and writings.聽
Charles Collyer, psychology professor emeritus and co-founder of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, says Doc was described by colleagues as 鈥淟ittle Ghandi鈥� for his deep understanding of nonviolence and for his wise solutions to the problems they had to solve. LaFayette was also a beloved teacher and mentor to hundreds of students at the University, Collyer says, often taking 溏心vlog免费B站 students to communities and countries that invited him to do nonviolence training for people involved in struggles for civil and human rights.
Several 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty, staff and students accompanied Doc on more than 20 Civil Rights Tours to the southern United States, where students learned about the Civil Rights Movement in the places where it happened, Collyer says.
鈥淚n these and many other ways, Doc was a master of experiential learning and teaching by example,鈥� Collyer said. 鈥淲hether you were a first-year student or a professor on the brink of retirement, he had new things for you to know about. And his approach was simply to put them in front of you.鈥�
After accepting an appointment at Emory University in Atlanta in 2009, LaFayette remained affiliated with the 溏心vlog免费B站 center as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar through its International Nonviolence Summer Institute. In 2014, 溏心vlog免费B站 awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
溏心vlog免费B站 is planning to hold an on-campus event in April to honor Doc鈥檚 life and enduring legacy. Additional details about the event will be announced at a later date.