James Luther Bevel
American minister and political activist
James Luther Bevel (born Oct. 19, 1936, Itta Bena, Miss., U.S.—died Dec. 19, 2008, Springfield, Va.) was an American minister and political activist who played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Although Bevel initially intended to pursue a recording career, he felt called to Christian ministry. He entered the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville in 1957; he graduated and was ordained in 1961. While a seminarian, he participated...