In Praise Of Jonathan Daniels and Ruby Sales: Greater Love Hath No Man Than This

From Common Dreams-

Jonathan Daniels, born on 20 March 1939, would have turned 80 this week. A doctor's son and small-town kid from Keene, New Hampshire, he attended Virginia Military Institute and Harvard briefly, then entered an Episcopal seminary. In 1965, he followed the call from Dr. Martin Luther King for people of faith to join him in a march to Montgomery after civil rights activists were attacked on Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. Daniels went to Alabama for what he thought was a few days; instead, he briefly left and returned for the rest of his short life - "The imperative was too clear" - remaining as activist, witness and finally martyr until his cruel death at 26. In these bitter times, writes John Samuel Tieman, let us celebrate Daniels' story, "a history of becoming, of process. He was open to change and growth...an ordinary man who saw great evil and responded with love."

More here-

https://www.commondreams.org/further/2019/03/20/praise-jonathan-daniels-and-ruby-sales-greater-love-hath-no-man?fbclid=IwAR1LjhoJAj2kMnlATSy1KFbO0WMlJ7gxEjYebR3xncoDoyGla4EgEBoS15Y

L.A. Parker: Solving U.S. race issues requires white leadership

From New Jersey-

Fifty-two years have passed since destiny caught up with Jonathan Daniels, a 26-year-old white Episcopal seminary student from Massachusetts.

Destiny and fate frequently travel parallel with death and such an unexpected demise awaited Daniels as he, Richard Morrisroe, a Catholic priest, and two young black women were ambushed while attempting to buy soda pop in a Ft. Deposit, Alabama store on August 20, 1965.

Daniels jumped in front of a shotgun shell fired by white supremacist and special county deputy, Tom Coleman.

Coleman had targeted 17-year-old Ruby Sales who escaped injury but Daniels suffered a fatal wound.

More here-

http://www.trentonian.com/opinion/20170819/la-parker-solving-us-race-issues-requires-white-leadership

Jonathan Daniels Forgotten Hero of the Civil Rights Movement

From Plough-

On August 14, 1965, Jonathan was part of a protest in Fort Deposit, Alabama. He, Stokely Carmichael, and some twenty others were arrested and held in the Hayneville county jail, where they sat for a week in the sweltering heat. On August 20 they were released and quickly set about trying to get to somewhere safe. While some of the activists organized rides, Jonathan and a Catholic priest named Richard Morrisroe along with two local women, Ruby Sales and Joyce Bailey, walked to a local store known to serve blacks and whites.

As Ruby opened the door, a figure from the shadows warned them off the property. Then the man raised a shot gun and pulled the trigger. Jonathan pulled Ruby from the line of fire and was hit instead. He was dead before he hit the ground. The gunman shot Father Morrisroe in the back, and then walked over to the county courthouse to call the state police chief and inform him he had just shot two preachers.

At Jonathan’s funeral, many of the mourners stood around the grave and sang the anthem of the movement, “We Shall Overcome”– a final tribute from those who had come to love this son of New England and his integrity, love, and commitment to freedom.

More here-

http://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/discipleship/jonathan-daniels-forgotten-hero-of-the-civil-rights-movement

Civil Rights Activist Honors Man Who Died Taking Bullet Meant For Her

From Huffington-

In 1965, Ruby Sales was just 17 years old when Jonathan Daniels, a 26-year-old Episcopal seminary student, stepped in front of the bullet that would have likely killed her. Both of them -- Sales, a young black activist from Alabama, and Daniels, a white man from New Hampshire -- were devoted Civil Rights activists fighting against segregation in Alabama, but only one of them would live to see the end of that year.

Fifty years after that act of selflessness, Sales will speak about Daniels' legacy on on Sunday, October 11 at the Washington National Cathedral, which just completed a limestone bust of Daniels in August.

“You have to understand the significance of Jonathan’s witness,” Sales told The Washington Post in July. “He walked away from the king’s table. He could have had any benefit he wanted, because he was young, white, brilliant and male. ”

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ruby-sales-jonathan-daniels_5616c004e4b0082030a1a106

Jonathan Daniels’ companions in Alabama recall his life, death

From ENS (with video)

Five people who worked alongside Jonathan Daniels in the struggle for civil rights in Alabama in 1965 gathered at his home parish, St. James Episcopal Church, on Aug. 22 to reminisce about the seminarian who died when he was 26 years old.

Daniels died Aug. 20, 1965, in Hayneville, Alabama, by stepping in front of a shotgun aimed at then-16-year-old Ruby Sales.

The Episcopal Church added Daniels to its Lesser Feasts and Fasts calendar of commemorations in 1994. His feast day is Aug. 14, the day of his arrest.

The panel discussion included:

Sales, a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) volunteer in Lowndes County, Alabama, in 1965, who now operates the Atlanta, Georgia-based SpiritHouse Project to work for racial, economic and social justice.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/08/27/video-jonathan-daniels-companions-in-alabama-recall-his-life-death/

Keene's Episcopal youth make Alabama pilgrimage to honor civil rights martyr

Jonathan Daniels  50th roundup-

Last week, Right Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, bishop of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire, joined the St. James Episcopal Church of Keene’s youth group on a pilgrimage to Hayneville, Ala., where Keene civil rights activist Jonathan Daniels was killed 50 years ago.

Daniels is a martyr in the Episcopal Church. He was killed on Aug. 20, 1965, at the height of the civil rights movement.

Keene NH

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150817/NEWHAMPSHIRE09/150819401/-1/mobile_NEWHAMPSHIRE0708&template=mobileart_newhampshire

Alabama-

http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/08/jonathan_daniels_civil_rights_1.html

Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/black-civil-rights-activist-recalls-white-ally-who-took-a-shotgun-blast-for-her/2015/08/16/4e562dd8-3b74-11e5-8e98-115a3cf7d7ae_story.html

Selma-

http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/2015/08/15/pilgrims-gather-in-hayneville-to-remember-martyrs/

Fox

http://www.myfoxal.com/story/29796377/hundreds-gather-to-remember-civil-rights-martyr-jonathan-daniels

Montgomery

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/opinion/columnists/al-benn/2015/08/15/honor-slain-seminarian-jonathan-daniels/31798255/

People flock from across U.S. to honor Jonathan Daniels

From Alabama-

Religious leaders and civil rights activists from across America begin arriving in Alabama today to remember an Episcopal seminary student who sacrificed his life to save a teenage girl 50 years ago.

Jonathan Daniels was one of several activists who took part in voting rights protests in 1965 during a violent year that claimed several lives.

Daniels, 26, died instantly when struck in the chest at point blank range by a shotgun blast as he stood outside a small convenience store on Aug. 20, 1965, shielding Ruby Sales who was not struck.

The two protesters had been ordered away from the “Cash Store” by Tom Coleman, a special deputy sheriff, shortly after their release from the Lowndes County Jail where they were incarcerated for a week.

More here-

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/local/alabama/2015/08/13/people-arriving-country-honor-daniels/31683589/

News August 13, 2015 Alva James-Johnson: Columbus connections bring history to life

From Georgia-

Reading about history is one thing; living it is another.

Ruby Nell Sales sure knows the difference.

Sales, 67, is a human rights activist who grew up in segregated Columbus at a time when black children were taught that they had a responsibility to uplift their communities.

In the 1960s, she took that sense of purpose to Tuskegee University, where she joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and began campaigning for voting rights in Selma, Ala. There she met Jonathan Daniels, a white, 26-year-old, seminarian who would die saving her life. At the time, Sales was only 17 years old.

I must humbly confess, I knew nothing about Sales until about two weeks ago. I stumbled across her name while working on a story about the 50th anniversary of Daniels’ historic deed, which hundreds of people are expected to commemorate Saturday during an annual pilgrimage in Hayneville, Ala., where he was killed.


Read more here:

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/article31022028.html#storylink=cpy

Area children commemorate 50th anniversary of Jonathan Daniels' death

From New Hampshire-

On Tuesday, a youth group from St. James Episcopal Church in Keene left on a journey back in time to the civil rights movement, in a trip marking 50th anniversary of Elm City native Jonathan Daniels’ death.

Nine children, ages 10 to 16, were slated to participate in the Jonathan Daniels pilgrimage to Alabama, according to Derek M. Scalia, the St. James youth pilgrimage leader and chairman of the city of Keene’s Martin Luther King Jr./Jonathan Daniels Committee.

“There’s an amazing opportunity for these students to actually walk where the movement took place, to visit the sites in which people sacrificed their reputation in the community and, for many, ultimately gave their life,” Scalia said. “It’s extremely moving.”

More here-

http://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/area-children-commemorate-th-anniversary-of-jonathan-daniels-death/article_ad9ef720-c4f8-5197-b34a-72527f4db4ee.html

Pilgrimage marks Civil Rights-era martyrdom of Jonathan Daniels

From Alabama-

Why should people remember this terrible story? Fifty years ago on a blazing August afternoon, Jonathan Daniels, a skinny white seminary student walked with a mixed group of civil rights workers in Hayneville, Ala., to a neighborhood store. The group was met by the store owner swinging a shotgun at them.

Daniels pushed 16-year-old Ruby Sales out of the line of fire, receiving the blast to his chest at nearly point-blank range. Daniels lay dying on the store's doorstep as the rest of the group scattered. Richard Morrisroe, then a Catholic priest, was also shot, but survived.

So why commemorate this event with the Jonathan Daniels Pilgrimage each year?

"That was a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights movement," said Alabama Rep. Kelvin Lawrence, who is also a former mayor of Hayneville. "Unfortunately, we have that history, but also, we can learn from history and move forward."

More here-

http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/08/jonathan_daniels_civil_rights.html