CT Vivian,civil rights icon, dies at 95

Perhaps when you think about civil rights icons, the name Cordy Tindell Vivian doesn't come to mind at once. However, for those involved in civil rights and leadership, his name might be the first spoken as one of the most dedicated and respected leaders of the civil rights movement.

The Rev Jesse Jackson says, "He was one of the tallest trees in the civil rights forest. He never stopped dreaming. He never stopped fighting. We are better because he came this way."

Former president Barack Obama said, after presenting him with the  presidential medal of freedom, "that time and again, Reverend Vivian was among the first to be in the action: in 1947, joining a sit-in to integrate an Illinois restaurant; one of the first Freedom Riders; in Selma, on the courthouse steps to register blacks to vote, for which he was beaten, bloodied and jailed.”

Former diplomat and congressman Andrew Young said, " Vivian was always one of the people who had the most insight, wisdom, integrity and dedication.”

CT Vivian was born on July 28, 1924, in Boonville, Illinois. In 1955, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee and enrolled in the American Baptist Theological Seminary. In Nashville, Vivian joined John Lewis, Diane Nash, and other students in the civil rights movement to intergrate public facilities and voter registration for African Americans.