(24 Jul 2020) OPRAH HELPS EULOGIZE CIVIL RIGHTS ICON C.T. VIVIAN
The nation paid its final respects Thursday to the Rev. C.T. Vivian, a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement who helped end segregation across the South and left an abiding imprint on U.S. history.
Vivian, a close ally of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was mourned by civil rights icons along with TV personality and author Oprah Winfrey, baseball legend Hank Aaron and others during a funeral at Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Vivian died July 17 at age 95.
Vivian's death came the same day as the passing of another civil rights icon, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, 80. In 1965, Alabama state troopers beat Lewis in Selma, Alabama, helping to galvanize national opposition to racial segregation.
At Vivian's funeral in Atlanta on Thursday, many of those who eulogized Vivian described him as a courageous soldier for God and civil rights who always remained humble.
Vivian's preaching was described as "an echo from heaven" by civil rights activist Bernard Lafayette.
But it was his work during the Civil Rights Movement and the decades that followed that left an impression on Winfrey.
She worked with Vivian on a series of racial seminars that aired on her TV show in the 1990s, she recalled in her video tribute during the funeral.
Vivian was passionate about voting rights. In 1965, he led dozens of marchers to a courthouse in Selma, Alabama, and confronted the local sheriff on the courthouse steps.
He said that marchers should be allowed to register to vote.
The sheriff responded by punching Vivian in the head.
Vivian later discussed the experience in a video that includes film footage of the confrontation and attack.

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