In 1984 I likely snuck onto the top tier of those who have publicly presented groundbreaking 1960s Civil Rights Movement history (the only amateur in that group), a small space inhabited by David Garrow, Taylor Branch, Adam Fairclough, Thomas E. Ricks, and one or two others. Garrow, Branch, and Ricks seem among those who know I've sometimes wandered around there.
My early findings about James Bevel, the strategist and architect of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, occurred after becoming aware of him in 1983 through a promotional fundraising handout compiled by Helen Bevel which pointed out her then-husband's Civil Rights Movement history. Asking Bevel if I could become his unpaid press person during a Congressional political campaign and, knowing that he'd lose in a heavily party-controlled district, we agreed that I'd take the position in order to concentrate on independently researching his history with himself and others. These early papers on Bevel's 1960s work, sent to historians, historical societies, and the media, as well as campaign handouts, press releases, and press conferences, presented Bevel's historic contributions to what became known as the Second American Revolution. Aside from the congressional campaign, I've never fully promoted this work.
"James Bevel:The Strategist of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement", my 1984 research paper cited by David Garrow in his Pulitzer Prize winning 1986 book Bearing the Cross, was later reprinted, with a new addendum, by Garrow in his 1989 book We Shall Overcome, Volume II. A session at the 1993 "History of the 1960s" conference in Madison, Wisconsin, presented new findings, as did a 2005 Middlebury College published paper. The combined papers contain sources and quotes from interviews not yet added to Wikipedia's Bevel article which, since 2007, includes much of my cited James Bevel research. Further discussion on various Wikipedia talk pages took place (i.e. 1, 2, 3, and 4), and Thomas Ricks used much of my Bevel research in his 2022 book Waging a Good War.
Information from that research has never found dispute on any major point, nor has anyone cited contradicting sources. James Bevel simply did all of the things in the 1960s movements that he gets credit for on his Wikipedia page. Although initially adding a few edits about his 2008 felony conviction, since Bevel's death that same year, and except for minor grammar or formatting edits and a bit about his co-creation of the Million Man March, I've only edited data about his 1960s accomplishments, the area concentrated on in researching Bevel's life, and even there have not worked on Bevel's page at length in many years.
The only fact or analysis academically questioned in the research papers concerns an event not yet used in the Wikipedia article. Historian James Ralph publicly disputed Bevel's version of a secret agreement which Bevel said ended the 1966 Chicago Open Housing Movement. Since Bevel initiated and ran that movement, after initiating and running the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade and the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, I'd think he would remember how he agreed to end it. It makes an interesting story that Bevel repeated over the years without much variation.
Since the information in those papers and in Bevel's Wikipedia article accurately reflect the events of the era, they give established Civil Rights Movement historians, and newer writers and researchers seeking an academic specialty, further access to James Bevel's Civil Rights Movement legacy. Other tools historians and students may find useful would include Bevel audio and video tapes kept by relatives, friends, and organizations (an inventory doesn't exist, another task for interested researchers) and his accumulated writings. In addition, nobody has fully, or in most cases partially, interviewed Bevel's remaining relatives, his students from the 1960s, or his post-movement associates, friends, and students, all available areas of inquiry.
As David Garrow described in 2015, and Thomas E. Ricks in 2022, James Bevel's place in American and world history seems assured. Bevel's observations about the 1960s movements, and his personal descriptions and step-by-step understanding and use of the science of nonviolence, deserve further principled and ethically compiled research and publication projects, such as presented in Ricks' 2022 book. Added to accurate data from existing writings, further well-sourced and academically scrutinized information may then find use on Bevel's Wikipedia article and in other Civil Rights Movement articles throughout the site.
Related Wikipedia edits
edit- Civil rights movement in popular culture, created, edits
- {{Civil rights movement}}, {{Martin Luther King Jr.}}, {{Suffrage}}, {{Frederick Douglass}} navboxes, edits
- Created or edited other Wikipedia Civil Rights Movement pages, categories, and discussions
- List of peace activists, introduction language, subject entries
- List of civil rights leaders, edits
- List of suffragists and suffragettes, edits, and related navboxes {{Alice Paul}}, {{Susan B. Anthony}} and others