Bernard Lafayette

Released
Date of birth:29. 07. 1940
Age:86
Gender:Male
Race:Black
Era:1960s
State:Alabama
Time Imprisoned:
2 Months 1 Day
Support
Civil Rights Anti-War Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Bernard Lafayette

Biography

Bernard Lafayette Jr. was a co-founder of SNCC, a Nashville Student Movement organizer trained by James Lawson, and an original Freedom Rider. Beaten unconscious during the May 1961 Montgomery Freedom Rides, he was arrested with the rest of the riders in Jackson, Mississippi and served time in Parchman Farm. He directed SNCC's Selma project beginning in 1962, surviving an assassination attempt outside his apartment in June 1963 the same night Medgar Evers was murdered. Across the LBJ era he was arrested repeatedly while organizing in Selma, Alabama and beyond, becoming national program director of SCLC's 1968 Poor People's Campaign after King's assassination.

Case

Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm)
Charges: Breach of peace — 1961 Freedom Rides (Jackson, MS); civil-rights demonstrations, Selma, Alabama, 1962-1965
Arrested: Apr 30, 1961
Incarcerated: Apr 30, 1961
Released: July 1961
Sentence: Multiple short jail terms (Freedom Rides + Selma organizing)
Institution State: Mississippi

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