Spring Break
Civil Rights reflections, lessons from Bernard Lafayette Jr. available on tape for students
Greg Gentile
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: News
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James Findlay, history professor emeritus, approached the University of Rhode Island Distinguished Scholar-In-Residence of Nonviolence and Peace Studies to put Lafayette's version of the American Civil Rights movement's history on tape.
"The tapes are to teach people about the steps for peace," Lafayette said during a phone interview. "There is [a tape] for every kind of person and profession."
Recorded from 2002 to 2003, the tapes consist of 12 hours of commentary. In them Lafayette reflects upon his life and the work he has done.
Findlay said the purpose of these films is to act as additional education for students studying Civil Rights, and also research for historians.
The funding for the tapes came from a URI Foundation grant and the Office of the President, along with money raised by the Bernard Lafayette Oral History Project.
Lafayette is a man who has walked with Martin Luther King Jr., ridden on the "Freedom Rides," pressured the United States government into the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, was the National Coordinator of the 1968 Poor Peoples' Campaign, has been held hostage and narrowly avoided death and established 10 nonviolent centers throughout the world during his career, according to his biography on the URI Web site.
Lafayette lived through a tumultuous time in which many significant historical events occurred. "Doc" -a nickname by his peers- has much to say about what he went through, all of which are presented on the tapes.
The tapes follow "Doc" from the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in 1959 to 1970 when he served as a mediator during the Sioux Nation's conflict with the United States.
Lafayette said his belief of nonviolence was influenced heavily by Gandhi's philosophies, which he learned while attending the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Tennessee.
His background in religion played a big part in his belief of nonviolence.
"[Religion] lays the groundwork for the nonviolent philosophy … nonviolence is how to respond to violence and turn it into a positive force," Lafayette said.
This belief has been translated into one of his current projects. Lafayette is taking 2000 Nigerian airplane bombers and training them to be nonviolent citizens.
