This member of the group that was the subject of the 1970 book "Black Power and the American Myth" died on December 19, 2008.
James Bevel James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 – December 19, 2008) was a minister and leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As the Director of Direct Action and of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), he initiated, strategized, directed, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era: the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade, the 1965 Selma voting rights movement, and the 1966 Chicago open housing movement. He suggested that SCLC call for and join a March on Washington in 1963. Bevel later strategized the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, which contributed to Congressional passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
1968 Pittsburgh riots The 1968 Pittsburgh riots were a series of urban disturbances that erupted in Pittsburgh on April 5, 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King. Pittsburgh, along with 110 other cities, burned for several days and 3,600 National Guardsmen were needed to quell the disorder. The neighborhoods most impacted were the Hill District, North Side, and Homewood with casualties including one death and 36 injuries. Over 100 businesses were either vandalized or looted with arsonists setting 505 fires. Order was finally restored on April 11 with 1,000 arrests being made and whole commercial districts being burned out. Many of the areas affected by the disorder never fully recovered in the following decades.