by Allison Woods | Mar 3, 2010 | News Slider
John Seigenthaler and Howard Gentry Jr. — two Nashvillians who were instrumental in the civil rights struggle — spoke to Lipscomb students as part of the observance of Black History Month. Seigenthaler, former editor and publisher of the Tennessean, worked as an adviser to Robert Kennedy and also covered the civil rights strugglet throughout the South. He was present at many of the sit-ins and white reactions. Growing up on the other side of the issue, Seigenthaler said he had to be educated on the struggles of African-Americans. “Martin Luther King had to expose it however he could and he had to dramatize it,” Seigenthaler said. He spoke of the freedom riders and Diane Nash leading the sit-ins in Nashville. He recalled the Ku Klux Klan attack in Alabama, perhaps the worst reaction of the nonviolent protests by African Americans. In Montogomery, Ala., Seigenthaler was hit in the head with a pipe and rushed to the hospital. Seigenthaler was with Robert Kennedy when he made his famous speech announcing the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. He remembered being the note taker when the two men first met. Gentry, the first African-American to be Vice Mayor of Nashville, grew up in segregated Nashville. His youth was filled with separate water fountains and second-hand textbooks. He was not allowed at the public swimming pool. Gentry said that his parents were the hopeful voice in his life. They taught him patience and hope for the future. He even remembered talking about John Seigenthaler in his home growing up. “There were people in the world that cared. And we will overcome, and they will help...
