Civil Rights Giant C.T. Vivian Shares His Life Story In Posthumous Memoir

The new memoir, “It’s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior,” offers a look at C.T. Vivian’s life, legacy and Illinois ties.

By Stephanie Kim

Mar 17, 2021, 5:00pm CT

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 1965 file photo, C.T. Vivian, left, leads a prayer on the courthouse steps in Selma, Ala., after Sheriff James Clark, background with helmet, stopped him at the door with a court order. The civil rights icon, died at home in Atlanta of natural causes Friday, July 17, 2020. Vivian was 95. Horace Cort / AP Photo

Civil Rights Giant C.T. Vivian Shares His Life Story In Posthumous Memoir

The new memoir, “It’s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior,” offers a look at C.T. Vivian’s life, legacy and Illinois ties.

By Stephanie Kim

Mar 17, 2021, 5:00pm CT

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Civil rights icon Rev. C.T. Vivian was a firm believer of nonviolence — even in the face of violent attacks. So when Vivian was struck in the face by a sheriff for trying to register Alabama voters in 1965, he brushed himself off and rose quickly.

Vivian recalls those memories and more in his posthumous memoir, It’s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior. Reset brings on the Evanston-based author who helped write the book about Vivian’s decadeslong fight for equality and what he would think about today’s America.

GUEST: Steve Fiffer, co-author of It’s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior