On Display at City Hall as Part of Black History Month
On July 24, 1924, a Civil Rights icon was born, and a Western Illinois University history class has paid tribute to his long and storied life.
The late Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian, who moved to Macomb when he was a toddler, graduated from Macomb High School and later Western Illinois State Teachers College (now Western Illinois University). His contributions to the Civil Rights movement, including being one of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 's, right-hand men, were many, and the WIU class has documented his background through an exhibition, now on display on the first floor of Macomb's City Hall.
WIU Department of History Chair Tim Roberts' senior history majors developed the exhibition, 'The Made the Difference: C.T. Vivian's Challenges and Opportunities at Western Illinois University,' last spring as part of a public history capstone course.
The students found and curated research materials in the WIU Archives & Special Collections Unit in the Malpass Library and through interviews with Vivian's family.
According to Roberts, he and his students felt there was an opportunity to tell a backstory about the late Rev. Dr. Vivian's life, and this led to the creation of the exhibition, which features Western academic and extracurricular artifacts, historic photographs and a map of Vivian’s neighborhood. Vivian passed away July 17, 2020 at his home in Atlanta, GA, just a few days shy of his 96th birthday.
'This very much tells Rev. Vivian's Macomb and Western local history, and the beginnings of his Civil Rights career.
The exhibit attempts to situate the Rev. C.T. Vivian as a youth and college students in a few contexts: some forms of racial segregation that he would have experienced; the opportunities, nonetheless, which Macomb and Western Illinois State Teachers College offered him; and the outbreak of World War II, which brought sudden changes to the area that would have provoked his thinking,' Roberts explained. We interpreted the courses he studied; the groups in which was welcome and not welcome; the arrival of lots of military personnel on account of Camp Ellis; and news headlines about Americans’ mobilization to fight a war for democracy, which he would have read.'
In their research, Roberts noted that there were a few 'a-ha' moments, such as the fact that his grandmother and mother picked Macomb to move to from Missouri, on account of its more liberal reputation.
Another discovery was a discriminatory incident he experienced as a student, which was referenced in another campus conversation about the treatment of a student of Japanese descent, he added.
About Cordy Tindell 'C.T.' Vivian Vivian, a distinguished author, organizer and activist, graduated from Macomb High School in 1942 and went on to attend WIU, where he worked as the sports editor for the Western Courier. Vivian's family left Missouri for Macomb when he was a toddler so he could start first grade in an unsegregated state and continue his education all the way through college. Vivian's journey as an activist began in Peoria in 1947, where he participated in his first sit-in demonstration which resulted in the integration of Barton's Cafeteria.
During the Rev. Dr. Vivian's illustrious career, he served with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. He joined King's executive staff and served as the national director of affiliates for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. While in Chicago he organized and directed the Coalition for United Community Action, which became known as Chicago's Black Front.
He was the first one of King's staff to write a book on the Civil Rights Movement, 'Black Power and the American Myth.' In 2013, he was among 16 individuals recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Vivian was the director of the Urban Theological Institute at Atlanta's Interdenominational Theological Center, a consortium of African-American seminaries, and was board chair of Capitol City Bank, a minority-owned bank in Georgia. Through his C.T. Vivian Leadership Institute, he fostered innovative leadership and career development for at-risk youth and college graduates.
In October 2015, the Macomb High School Library was renamed the C.T. Vivian Library, and the City of Macomb issued an honorary designation of C.T. Vivian Way from University Drive to Carroll Street.
In September 2003, Macomb City officials designated a portion of West Murray Street from Stadium Drive to University Drive, the roadway through the WIU campus, as C.T. Vivian Way.
The site of Vivian's former Macomb home at 630 E. Adams St. was designated as a historic site on Sept. 26, 2020. His memory also lives on in Macomb thanks to WIU Art Professor Emeritus Michael Mahoney, who created a 70-foot public mural in 2022 at the intersection of Macomb's North Randolph and East Carroll streets.
