She wants to help them by starting a monthly support group, WhiteSpace SafeSpace, that will meet at her gallery. The daughter is one of at least 14 children Bevel has with several different women, according to her testimony on Monday. I think he's more like a spoiled child in which he has been doing and being the way he is for so long that he gets away with it. During the call he explains the importance of teaching his daughter "the science of marriage" and admits that he did not want her to get pregnant after the incident. In 1968, Mr. Bevel was at the Memphis motel where Dr. King was assassinated, and in a bizarre post-mortem, he claimed that the man who was arrested for (and later convicted of) the shooting, James Earl Ray, was not the killer and that he had evidence which he declined to reveal that Mr. Ray was innocent. He was educated at segregated local schools in both Mississippi and Cleveland. [13] SCLC's remaining Board of Directors removed Bevel from his leadership positions in 1969. A one-time top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for having sex more than a decade ago with his then-teenage daughter. On April 10, 2008, after a three-hour deliberation, the jury found Bevel guilty, his bond was revoked, and he was taken into custody. In 1963, SCLC agreed to assist its co-founder, Fred Shuttlesworth, and others in their work on desegregating retail businesses and jobs in Birmingham, Alabama, where discussion and negotiations with city officials had yielded few results. Though initially reluctant, Dr. King finally agreed. Bevel was in the parking lot of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis and witnessed King's assassination on April 4, 1968. It was such a fundamental affront to human dignity, to force sex upon a girl who's too young to consent, too young to understand what's going on, to abuse your position as the head of the household. "People don't just wake up one morning and stop being a pedophile," Orrin said. He was 72. Sentencing guidelines called for probation only. 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. Later efforts in Mississippi developed as Freedom Summer in 1964, when extensive voter education and registration efforts took place. But she wanted Athena with her: I refuse to let my daughter live without what I so desperately needed: stability, happiness, home., To that end, Liese works three jobs. The street lights were turned off by Alabama State Troopers who attacked the protesters. Daughter reconciles conflicting images of famous father He was 72. [24], In the 1980s, Bevel supported Ronald Reagan as president. But she believes that justice must be served, and that the victims have to come first. In a Post story chronicling Lieses decision to come forward about the abuse, she described a trauma room, where her father slid onto her bed fondling her. Liese formerly Mills before creating a new last name to replace her ex-husbands says she forgave and let go long before the trial. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. "There is something that reeks of moral depravity when an individual, whose sworn responsibility is to protect and serve and is fired for what. He suggested a march from Selma to Montgomery, the capital, to protest Jackson's death and press Governor George Wallace to support voting rights for African Americans. On December 19, 2008, at the age of 72, he died of pancreatic cancer in Springfield, Virginia. Updates? [13] King was initially reluctant, but agreed. Eventually, her former husband agreed. To fight those feelings, she decided to track down her attacker. Ms. MILLS: And it's an hour and a half of him explaining his position. "I am equally devastated and disgusted by his pedophilia.". James Bevel (Common) - 'Selma' Actors Side-By-Side with Their - Zimbio But that you have to come to some understanding of what sex is outside of pleasure. The news coverage, which featured children being water-hosed by police and more than 600 youth being arrested, prompted a groundswell of support for the civil rights movement. The daughter is one of 16 children Bevel said he has had with several different women. From previous discussions with King, and from work of American Friends Service Committee activist Bill Moyer, Bevel organized, and directed the Chicago open housing movement. He was convicted earlier this year of having sex 15 years ago with his then-teenage daughter in Virginia. That's a playboy talking to a prostitute," Bevel said on the witness stand shortly before he was sentenced. Do you have any idea where you were able to find that within yourself to do this? *James Bevel was born on this date in 1936. [13] They were under an injunction by the state, so stayed within the city limits. His bond was revoked and he was taken into custody. She is the daughter of James Bevel who was recently convicted of molesting her when she was a child. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Residents ask school board where is the outrage after drag performance; school system will revise agreement with Forsyth Tech, No new vaccinations would be allowed in North Carolina for 3 years under bill filed in N.C. House, Slice of Napoli closing; new pizza place moving in, Jim Spivey, a former athletics director at Reynolds High School, dies. A deathbed interview with Rev. And when I got the confirmation from other siblings that it happened to them as well it was something I had to do. James L. Bevel is shown in a photoprovided by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. When she approaches people and identifies herself as James Bevels and my daughter, many are very welcoming and attempt to help her in any way possible, not knowing that she and I have been estranged for decades. 4. And it's something I had the support of so many people to do, up until 2004. Orrin, 32, is the daughter of Rev. Do you think that's what it was? That was very hard for me. The four-day trial in Loudoun County Circuit Court included bizarre testimony about Bevel's philosophies for eradicating lust, and parents' duty to "sexually orient" their children. At the turn of the 20th century, southern state legislatures had passed new constitutions and laws that effectively disenfranchised most blacks. 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. Hoffman also questioned why the daughter returned to voluntarily live with her father after the alleged incest. The Court of Appeals affirmed this judgment. Much of it was revealed during a 2008 trial that ended with her father, the Rev. MARTIN: We were corresponding about your coming on the program because I had to be honest, I was hesitant to contact you because I was worried that you would see it as an intrusion or as a burden to talk about something so painful, again. They agreed to work until they had ended segregation, obtained voting rights, and ensured that all American children had a quality education. They moved to Alabama to implement the project along with Birmingham student activist James Orange. The demonstrations, early that year, overwhelmed the city, and the news coverage, complete with televised images of black children being arrested or soaked and bowled over by law enforcement officers wielding powerful fire hoses, helped rally much of the American public to the side of the civil rights movement. In 1963, as the Alabama project director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization led by Dr. King, Mr. Bevel persuaded Dr. King to allow children to participate in antisegregation demonstrations, in which they would almost surely face arrest. Happiness is amazing. Bevel then called off plans for the children's march. The Associated Press generally does not identify the victims of sexual abuse. 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. At the sentencing hearing, the victims said they were hoping that Bevel would apologize for his actions and seek forgiveness and reconciliation. Bevel was born on October 19, 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi. Another daughter, Sherilynn Bevel, confirmed the death, The Washington Post reported. Though not a lawyer, Mr. Bevel offered to represent Mr. Ray in court. All rights reserved. 'You dont like to work on anything that isnt your own idea,' King said, 'Bevel, I think you owe me one.'"[22]. Prosecutor Nicole Wittmann also warned the jury against getting confused by Bevel's sometimes convoluted explanations of his philosophies and his justifications for his actions. Civil rights leader defends against incest charge Three months after the March on Washington, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson ascended to the Oval Office. Particularly my - one of my - little sister, not the youngest one that was in the household, but particularly her because I had, I had sought to protect to her. He was free on bond, appealing the conviction, when pancreatic cancer killed him. This civil rights activist, minister, lyricist, and human rights advocate gained a national reputation for both his . . He was a Black Civil rights activist and minister. Practices such as requiring payment of poll taxes and literacy tests administered in a discriminatory way by white officials maintained the exclusion of blacks from the political system in the 1960s. Liese also shares custody of an 11-year-old son with her first husband, with whom the boy lives. 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. 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 we have to find a way, because they exist. During his four-day trial in 2008, the accusing daughter testified that she was repeatedly molested by him, beginning when she was six years old. His education: American Baptist College (1957-1961). No one wants the government in their home. Some protesters were jailed, but the movement kept the pressure on. "At the end of the day, they're still our fathers, our mothers, our uncles and aunts and brothers and sisters," she said. He was looking at her and talking about her and, you know, being his jolly self, and I actually got really, really sad because I realized that, you know, I won't be able to experience him anymore. [28][29], Bevel moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in November 1990 as the leader of the "Citizens Fact-Finding Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations of Children in Nebraska", a group organized by the Schiller Institute. The biracial daughters of Reverend James Bevel, an influential sit-in leader and protest organizer, bemoan their absentee father, a civil rights "Daddy Dearest" who "speaks in political theory all the time" and lambastes interracial relationships. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. And so, I had moved on and I had felt that my father perhaps - like it was my fault. The daughter is one of 16 children Bevel said he has had with several different women. She spoke out about her abuse to protect a younger sister. James Bevel, a civil rights leader and close associate of Martin Luther King Jr.s, being sentenced to 15 years in prison for unlawful fornication. The Sad Fall of James Bevel. | PostBourgie We will have a link to it on our website. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Luther-Bevel, African American Registry - Biography of James Bevel, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle - Biography of James Luther Bevel. [30] The commission was associated with conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche, and sought to persuade the state legislature to reopen its two-year investigation into the Franklin child prostitution ring allegations. We have great country we live in that had slavery.