"SNCC crossed Selma off its map after some initial scouting determined the white folks were too mean and the Black folks were too scared, LaFayette said. But he insisted on trying anyway. Named director of the Alabama voter registration campaign in 1963, LaFayette moved to the town and, with his former wife, Colia Liddell, gradually built the leadership capacity of the local people, convincing them change was possible and creating momentum that could not be stopped."
"On 7 March 1965, the beating of future congressman John Lewis and voting rights marchers on Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge led the evening news, shocking the nation's conscience and pushing Congress to act. But two years before Bloody Sunday, it was LaFayette who quietly set the stage for Selma and the advances in voting rights that would follow."
"The many dangers LaFayette faced included an assassination attempt on the same night Medgar Evers was murdered in Mississippi, in what the FBI said was a conspiracy to kill civil rights workers."
Bernard LaFayette was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who played a crucial role in establishing the groundwork for the Selma voting rights campaign. Appointed director of Alabama's voter registration campaign in 1963, LaFayette moved to Selma and worked with his former wife Colia Liddell to build local leadership capacity and convince residents that change was possible. SNCC had initially abandoned Selma, believing white resistance and Black fear made organizing impossible, but LaFayette persisted. His efforts created the momentum that led to the pivotal events of 1965, including Bloody Sunday and the subsequent passage of the Voting Rights Act. LaFayette faced significant dangers, including an assassination attempt during a conspiracy targeting civil rights workers.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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