wfn.org | Civil rights martyr remembered with documentary video, special events

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2002-184

Civil rights martyr remembered with documentary video, special events

by Nan Ross

     (ENS) Every year in mid-August, during busy back-to-school days and end-of-
summer vacations, Alabama Episcopalians stop to honor the life of Jonathan 
Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian from New England who was shot and killed in 
Hayneville, Alabama, on August 20, 1965, during the struggle for civil rights. To 
support this year's activities, each parish in the Diocese of Alabama will 
receive a special video documentary about Daniels. 

     Daniels was declared "a martyr and witness to the Gospel" and in 1994 his 
name was added to the Episcopal Church calendar of saints and martyrs, to be 
remembered on August 14 each year. All Episcopal churches are encouraged to 
remember Daniels with special prayers and programs this year on Sunday, August 
18. 

     The Diocese of Alabama will host several events August 16 and 17 in 
Hayneville, the town where Daniels died, to remember him and 12 others who were 
martyred in Alabama for the same cause. Episcopalians from the Diocese of Central 
Gulf Coast, who alternate with their neighboring diocese in hosting the annual 
remembrance, will take part too. 

Martyrs for civil rights

     To increase awareness about Daniels' life, the Diocese of Alabama's Race 
Relations Commission has purchased 100 video copies of a documentary--"Here Am I, 
Send Me: The Journey of Jonathan Daniels"-- for each of its congregations. 
Narrated by Sam Waterston, the hour-long documentary is available exclusively 
through the Episcopal Media Center in Atlanta. 

     Joanna Ware, co-chair of Alabama's commission, said, "I had heard about 
Jonathan Daniels but didn't know a lot about his life. This video, which I 
discovered on a shelf in our diocesan office, created an image of him for me and 
let me gain a sense of his life story. The visuals of his childhood meant a lot. 
The video does a great job of providing the right amount of information and 
making you feel connected to his story and to the cause that he died for. I was 
moved by the fact that this event took place in Alabama and he was an 
Episcopalian, and that he was so young yet was able to act on his convictions." 

     Adele Stockham, co-chair for the events in Hayneville, said special programs 
for young people, including a work day and barbecue, are planned for August 16. 
The next day participants will meet at the courthouse for Holy Eucharist, with 
suffragan bishop Mark Andrus officiating and priest and longtime civil rights 
activist Francis Walter preaching. They will then process, carrying banners and 
crosses, to the jail where Daniels was imprisoned and finally to the store where 
he was shot and killed. 

     "It has always been our goal to work in partnership with the people of 
Hayneville to help make something better come of this," Stockham said.  "This 
year we are making a special effort to honor all 13 of the people who were 
martyred for civil rights in Alabama." 

Heroic Christian deeds

     Daniels' murder prompted outcries from many and is believed to have 
contributed to a turning point in America's battle for equality among the races. 
At the time, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "One of the most heroic 
Christian deeds of which I have heard in my entire ministry and career for civil 
rights was performed by Jonathan Daniels." 

     A student at the Episcopal Theological Seminary (now Episcopal Divinity 
School) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a native of Keene, New Hampshire, 
Daniels answered King's call to march from Selma to Montgomery in the spring of 
1965 and help register African-American voters in the South. 

     That summer he was arrested with 20 others at a demonstration in Fort 
Deposit, Alabama. After refusing bail and spending several days in jail in 
Hayneville, the group was released without explanation. A few minutes later, 
while trying to enter a store with a Roman Catholic priest and two African-
American girls, Daniels was shot to death by a deputy sheriff. His last act was 
to push one of the girls out of the line of fire. He was 26. 

     The Episcopal Media Center is an independent nonprofit organization whose 
mission is to proclaim the gospel through popular media. "Here Am I, Send Me: 
The Journey of Jonathan Daniels" is available on videocassette by calling 
1-800-229-3788 or at www.episcopalmedia.org/newsletter/index.html. 

-- Nan Ross is director of marketing and communications for the Episcopal Media Center.