Below is a press release from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History:
On May 26, 2021, Steve Fiffer and Denise Morse presented “C.T. Vivian in Words and Deeds” as part of the History Is Lunch series.
Cordy Tindell Vivian (1924–2020) was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work in the Civil Rights Movement. Vivian, with co-author Steve Fiffer, chronicled his life in the 2020 memoir It’s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior.
C.T. Vivian was born in Missouri and moved to Nashville in 1948, earning a degree in theology and joining John Lewis, Diane Nash, and others in efforts to integrate the city in 1960. After being beaten and imprisoned in Mississippi during the Freedom Rides, Vivian joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta and played leading roles in integration and voting rights campaigns in Birmingham, St. Augustine, and Selma.
“Martin Luther King Jr. called my father C.T. Vivian the greatest preacher to ever live,” said Denise Morse. “Through his commitment to his faith and the nonviolent movement he became internationally known for his work for education and human rights and against racism, hatred, and economic inequality.”
Steve Fiffer is the author of more than a dozen nonfiction books, including Jimmie Lee and James: Two Lives, Two Deaths, and the Movement that Changed America, and award winning collaborations with Southern Poverty Law Center founder Morris Dees, human rights activist Dr. Quentin Young, and former Secretary of State James Baker. A Guggenheim Fellowship winner, Fiffer is a graduate of Yale and the University of Chicago Law School.
Denise Morse is one of the six living children of C.T. and Octavia Vivian. She serves as treasurer of the C.T. and Octavia Vivian Museum and Archives, where she is responsible for guiding outreach programs based on the life and legacy of her parents. Morse earned a BA from Clark College and an MBA from Atlanta University.
