James Bevel, Oral History
Title
James Bevel, Oral History
Subject
James Bevel
History
Description
Interview with Rev. James Bevel (b.Oct 19, 1936, d. Dec 19, 2008), major leader of the 1960 Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Lieutenant of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Creator
James Bevel
Bob Friedman
Publisher
Birmingham Black Radio Museum
Date
March 17. 2007
Contributor
Emily Bibb
Jeff Hayes
Format
JPG
MP3
PDF
Language
English
Identifier
BevelOH
Interviewer
Bob Friedman
Interviewee
James Bevel
Location
WJLD studios, Birmingham AL
Transcription
Transcript of audio snippet:
James Bevel: The first thing that we probably need to do…Bobby D you keep talking about history. See history is a science and if you don’t have history and sociological science you can’t make things happen. So what we first need to do is really go back and extract the science out of the 60s. And what I mean by that. Let’s take the Wright Brothers. You see this Kitty Hawk flying, right? Well something scientific is going on. So you need to find out exactly what these Wright Brothers are doing, so you can replicate it. What they’re doing has nothing to do with their personality; it has to do with science. So what was going on in the 60s had nothing to do with our personalities…now we’re not some magnetic, charismatic, angelic guys. No, we’re some American citizens who discovered that the American constitutional democratic process actually works. That’s what we discovered. But it takes the courage and the honesty to make it work. So we said “Ok, it looks like you’re going to lose your life every time, but you’ve gotta be honest and sincere about what you’re doing, then do it.” So you have to learn that science. Now, then once you learn the science, then we can apply it to the whole question of education. Now let me go back to the sociological science. These guys said – see America is built on a science – now the guys who put the science together signed off on it, saying “We give our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honor.” That’s a total commitment to the idea. Most people don’t want to give that much, but you’d have to say “Wait a minute; we must educate our children. And to this end I give my life, my fortune, and sacred honor.” Now you gotta understand, in America, when you have self-governance you don’t have a king and you don’t have a dictator, the citizens are the authority.
James Bevel: The first thing that we probably need to do…Bobby D you keep talking about history. See history is a science and if you don’t have history and sociological science you can’t make things happen. So what we first need to do is really go back and extract the science out of the 60s. And what I mean by that. Let’s take the Wright Brothers. You see this Kitty Hawk flying, right? Well something scientific is going on. So you need to find out exactly what these Wright Brothers are doing, so you can replicate it. What they’re doing has nothing to do with their personality; it has to do with science. So what was going on in the 60s had nothing to do with our personalities…now we’re not some magnetic, charismatic, angelic guys. No, we’re some American citizens who discovered that the American constitutional democratic process actually works. That’s what we discovered. But it takes the courage and the honesty to make it work. So we said “Ok, it looks like you’re going to lose your life every time, but you’ve gotta be honest and sincere about what you’re doing, then do it.” So you have to learn that science. Now, then once you learn the science, then we can apply it to the whole question of education. Now let me go back to the sociological science. These guys said – see America is built on a science – now the guys who put the science together signed off on it, saying “We give our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honor.” That’s a total commitment to the idea. Most people don’t want to give that much, but you’d have to say “Wait a minute; we must educate our children. And to this end I give my life, my fortune, and sacred honor.” Now you gotta understand, in America, when you have self-governance you don’t have a king and you don’t have a dictator, the citizens are the authority.
Original Format
MP3
Duration
Full interview: 92 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Files
Collection
Citation
James Bevel and Bob Friedman, “James Bevel, Oral History,” The Birmingham Black Radio Museum, accessed October 22, 2024, https://thebbrm.org/item/32.
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