.jpg)
Jan. 30, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: Just prior to Christmas at a Wreaths Across America ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery we had just honored those who served to maintain our freedom. A woman who is a pillar in the Lexington community and I talked. Marilyn Alexander suggested a letter for Black History Month. This is that letter, a tribute to another servant of freedom who was also determined to share his with others — no matter the cost.
The time was the turbulent 1950s and ‘60s when our nation was at war with itself. Reports then called it racial strife. It was not. It was a movement to expand our precious freedoms to all.
Social movements involve change and change is often messy. These times were no exception. Or as Charles Dickens wrote, “They were the best of times and the worst of times.” And the French Revolution and our Second American Revolution were no different.
So this is the story of one man during those times of hope and hardship when freedom was at stake. It starts on Sundays when I would drive down 16th Street into Washington, D.C., to attend All Soul’s Church (Unitarian) and hear its pastor, the Rev. James Reeb. Jim had a problem. He was a white guy who was unable to keep his mind off of what was happening to black folks outside of our church doors. So Jim headed out, mainly south, to try to fix things.
The man had no choice. Jim was a man of character. You may know the rest of the story. Jim’s head was struck one time too many. My pastor lasted a day. But that was it.
Was Jim’s death in vain? You decide. Not far down 16th Street from Jim’s pulpit there lived another man with another pulpit, commonly referred to as “the bully pulpit.” On Aug. 6, 1965, a scant 148 days after Jim’s death, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Jim held his hand. DAVID REYNOLDS Rockbridge County
