Five years after their passings, C.T. Vivian and John Lewis still getting their flowers

“The words that would stand out for both of them would be integrity, honesty and trustworthiness,” said Durley. “When you talked to them, you always understood that they were listening to you and that they were caring about you. Their word was their bond.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Five years ago, Congressman John Lewis and the Rev. C.T. Vivian — grizzled civil rights veterans whose friendship spanned more than 60 years — died within hours of each other on July 17, 2020; there was little doubt that their legacies would live on.

“Neither one of them sought the fame,” said Durley, who preached Vivian’s funeral in 2020. “But they both earned it.”

In 1961, the pair was famously arrested together and sent to one of the most brutal prisons in Mississippi for daring to use a “whites only” bathroom.

Credit: HANDOUT

Credit: HANDOUT

In 1965, weeks before Lewis was beaten on “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Vivian was assaulted by Dallas County, Alabama, Sheriff Jim Clark on the courthouse steps as he attempted to register Black citizens to vote.

And when they died on the same day, their caskets were initially placed in a private room — together — in the Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home. But five years after their passings, their families and foundations are still coming up with innovative ways to honor Lewis and Vivian, who, like fellow Atlantans Hank Aaron, Joe Lowery and Andrew Young, were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Plans are underway to build a stand-alone library to house Vivian’s thousands of books, while Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are continuing to push for the passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore and modernize the protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Next week the C.T. Vivian Foundation will host its annual Kaleidoscope Awards for Literary Excellence, feeding off his passion for reading and literacy.

And recently, the Georgia School of Orthodontics announced the creation of the John Lewis Legacy Scholarships, an $8.5 million initiative that will provide 47 three-year scholarships over 12 years in the congressman’s name.

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Vivian’s Kaleidoscope

In his 95 years, C.T. Vivian had emerged as a civil rights pillar, alongside Lewis, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Andrew Young.

But when he died in 2020, he and his wife, Octavia, had amassed more than 6,000 books — mostly by Black authors. It was that part of his legacy that his family wanted to lean on after his death.

Next week, the C.T. Vivian Foundation will host its fourth Kaleidoscope Awards, a program designed to publicly acknowledge Vivian’s love of literature while raising money for scholarships, and eventually a library and museum in his name. The event also recognizes writers whose works promote civil and human rights.

Credit: Arthur Rudick

Credit: Arthur Rudick

This year’s honorees include Jelani Cobb, the dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism and author; Margaret Burnham, founder and director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ); and Patrick Phillips, author of “Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America,” about the 1912 racial conflict that violently forced all Black people out of Forsyth County. Bernard Lafayette, who was also part of the Nashville Student Movement and the current chair of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s board of trustees, will receive a special award for social justice.

During the past three years, the foundation has awarded more than $60,000 in scholarship money to students interested in social justice, civil rights work and writing.

In 2012, Vivian started the foundation (originally the C.T. and Octavia Vivian Museum and Archive) to “Advance the legacy and vision of C.T. and Octavia, centered around social justice issues of literacy, education and the preservation of African American literature and our history.”

Vivian famously converted a wing of his southwest Atlanta home into a personal library for his thousands of volumes, including first editions from the 18th century. When Vivian died in 2020, his family put the collection in storage at Emory University with the intention of building a permanent library and museum.

DeAna Jo Vivian, the executive director of the foundation and Vivian’s daughter-in-law, said the idea — with recent book bans and President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution — couldn’t come at a better time.

“We are making sure that we bring light to all of these relevant issues, for America at large, and for the African American community more specifically,” DeAna Jo Vivian said. “We can no longer close our eyes to what’s happening to our own legacy and how our children continue to fall behind. It’s a simple fix. We definitely want to advance C.T.’s vision, but we always also want to advance his legacy.”

The Kaleidoscope Awards for Literary Excellence, honoring Black writers and others writing about the Black experience, will be held April 17 at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, 265 Peachtree Street.

Lewis’ Good Trouble

In 2015, when the Georgia School of Orthodontics was still trying to get off the ground, it received a key letter of support from the Congressional Black Caucus.

The CBC, in a letter to the Commission on Dental Accreditation, endorsed the fledgling school, noting the nationwide lack of Black orthodontic residents.

Lewis was one of the strongest supporters.

“Congressman Lewis cared as much about economics as he did about civil rights,” said Detria Everson, president and CEO of the John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation. “He saw the orthodontic residency program as a vehicle for wealth generation, as a way for people to increase their earning capacity and build generational wealth.”

Credit: Katie Tucker

Credit: Katie Tucker

In 2015, less than 3% of America’s orthodontic residents were Black.

The announcement was made last week as part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony for GSO’s newly established Lazzara Orthodontic Research Center in Atlanta. Since its 2016 accreditation, GSO has graduated 132 certified orthodontists — more than 10% of the nation’s graduates.

In naming the scholarship after him, the school said the program pays tribute to Lewis’ lifelong dedication to justice, equality and education.

“It’s humbling to know that GSO has been entrusted to carry on Rep. John Lewis’ legacy. We take the responsibility of upholding his legacy of courage, justice and service very seriously,” said Christopher M. Lazzara, cofounder and trustee of the Georgia School of Orthodontics. “This is the start of a special partnership with the John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation.”

Everson said the partnership will also include educational programming and civil rights tours for all orthodontic residents, ensuring that Lewis’ values resonate throughout their training.

The inaugural three recipients of the John Lewis Legacy Scholarship will begin the program in August after completing dental school. Two of the three students are from Atlanta, and one is from Florida.

The scholarship program offers each recipient $180,000 over three years. It will expand annually, with four scholarships awarded to the Class of 2028 and five scholarships for each subsequent class beginning with the Class of 2029.

“His life was a testament to the idea that collective action and dedication to a higher purpose can change lives, and GSO is honored to continue his work in its own capacity,” Lazzara added.

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