Jonathan Daniels ’61 50th Anniversary Remembrance Aug. 15, 2015
Table of Contents
About Jonathan Daniels ’61 ..................................................................................... 2 Daniels’ Valedictory Address .................................................................................... 3 The Legacy of Jonathan Daniels ’61 ......................................................................... 4 2013 Pilgrimage to Alabama ..................................................................................... 6 Marshall ’65 Donates Daniels ’61 Cape to VMI ......................................................... 7 Daniels Courtyard Dedication ................................................................................... 10 Wreath Laying Ceremony in Daniels Courtyard ......................................................... 11 Jonathan M. Daniels ’61 Humanitarian Award Presented to Rep. John Lewis .............. 12
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About Jonathan Daniels Jonathan M. Daniels, a native of Keene, New Hampshire, was valedictorian of the VMI Class of 1961. He was awarded the prestigious Danforth Daniels at VMI Fellowship for post-graduate study and enrolled at Harvard University to continue his study of English literature. Daniels soon realized that he was called to the ministry. While a seminarian at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he responded to the pleas of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for clergy to become more actively involved in the Civil Rights movement and traveled to Alabama to assist with voter registration efforts in the South. In August 1965, Daniels and 22 others were arrested for participating in a voter rights demonstration in Fort Deposit, Alabama, and transferred to the county jail in nearby Hayneville. Shortly after being released Aug. 20, Richard Morrisroe, a Catholic priest, and Daniels accompanied two black teenagers, Joyce Bailey and Ruby Sales, to a Hayneville store to buy a soda. They were met on the steps by Tom Coleman, a construction worker and part-time deputy sheriff, who was carrying a shotgun. Coleman aimed his gun at sixteen year old Ruby Sales. Daniels pushed her to the ground in order to protect her, saving her life. The shotgun blast killed Daniels instantly, and Morrisroe was seriously wounded. When he heard of the tragedy, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “One of the most heroic Christian deeds of which I have heard in my entire ministry was performed by Jonathan Daniels.” Daniels ’61 In the years since his death, Daniels’ selfless act has been recognized in many ways. Two books have been written about his life, and a documentary was produced in 1999. The Episcopal Church added the date of his death to its Calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts, and in England’s Canterbury Cathedral, Daniels name is among the fifteen honored in the Chapel of Martyrs.
Recognition at the Institute The VMI Board of Visitors voted in 1997 to establish the Jonathan M. Daniels ’61 Humanitarian Award. The award emphasizes the virtue of humanitarian public service and recognizes individuals who have made significant personal sacrifices to protect or improve the lives of others. The inaugural presentation was made to President James Earl Carter in 2001; the second award was presented to Ambassador Andrew Young in 2006. In addition, one of only four named archways in the VMI barracks is dedicated to Daniels, as is a memorial courtyard. (Text from VMI Archives online.)
Winners of the Jonathan M. Daniels ’61 Humanitarian Award 2001 President Jimmy Carter
2006 Ambassador Andrew Young
2011 Dr. Paul V. Hebert ’68
2015 Rep. John Lewis
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Jonathan Daniels ’61
Daniels’ valedictory address as it appeared in The Cadet, June 11, 1961. Photo courtesy VMI Archives.
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The Legacy of Jonathan Daniels ’61 by Rich Griset, Contributing Writer VMI Alumni Review, 2015-Issue 3
“...That’s what makes it so incredible – when ordinary humans step outside and do unordinary and heroic things.”
Jonathan Daniels ’61, left, in Alabama in April 1965. Photo courtesy VMI Archives.
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Jonathan Daniels ’61
In August 1965, a group of roughly two dozen people, some of them members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, were arrested for picketing whites-only stores in Fort Deposit, Alabama. Jailed in the nearby town of Hayneville, they refused to accept bail unless all members of the group were freed. After spending six days incarcerated, the group was released suddenly and without transportation back to Fort Deposit. As someone called for a ride, the August sun beat down on the group. Four of the activists decided to purchase soft drinks at a nearby store they knew served non-whites. “The pavement was steamy ... We were hot, tired and thirsty,” recalled Ruby Sales, one of the four. “It was hot in a way that it can only be hot in the south.” The others were Joyce Bailey, Father Richard F. Morrisroe and Jonathan Daniels ’61. Before they could reach the store, they were halted by Tom Coleman, an unpaid special deputy sheriff. A pistol rested on Coleman’s hip, and in his hands was a 12-gauge shotgun. “He was waving the shotgun and threatening to kill us,” Sales remembered. “[He] threatened to kill me, because I was in the front and in the most danger. Jon pulled me, and I tripped, and he was shot,” she said, recalling the horrifying moment. “...Tom Coleman didn’t stop at that. He fired at Father Morrisroe, who was holding Joyce Bailey’s hand.” Morrisroe was severely wounded in the back during the altercation, and Daniels was killed instantly. Even with these serious offenses, Coleman was only charged with manslaughter. Richmond Flowers Sr., Alabama’s attorney general, was thwarted by the trial judge and later removed from the case when he tried to have the charge changed to murder. The judge also refused to wait for Morrisroe’s recovery, which would have allowed him to testify in the case. Coleman claimed self-defense against the four unarmed people he met in the parking lot Aug. 20, 1965. The all-white jury found Coleman not guilty and he was acquitted. Flowers described the verdict as “democratic process going down the drain of irrationality, bigotry and improper law enforcement.” Sales barely spoke for several months after Daniels’ murder. “He saved my life,” she said. “He was very committed, but he was not an angel or a saint. What made him so wonderful was that he was an authentic human being with incredible strength ... That’s what makes it so incredible – when ordinary humans step outside and do unordinary and heroic things.”
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Daniels is now listed in the Episcopal book of contemporary martyrs for his actions. After Daniels’ death, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “One of the most heroic Christian deeds of which I have heard in my entire ministry was performed by Jonathan Daniels.” Despite the traumatic event, Sales continues her work for social justice through her nonprofit, the SpiritHouse Project. The nonprofit has Jonathan Daniels and Samuel Younge fellows, typically college interns, working for it. In a world where law enforcement sometimes targets minorities, Sales says that in some ways, things haven’t changed over the past 50 years. “We lived [then] in a climate in the south that is very similar to what we live in today,” Sales explained. Daniels’ journey to Alabama came from his sense of duty to others. Born in Keene, New Hampshire, he graduated as valedictorian of VMI’s Class of 1961. Daniels briefly attended Harvard University before deciding to pursue the ministry. In 1963, Daniels began his studies at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Jon was a gentle man,” recalled Rev. David Ames, a seminary classmate of Daniels’ who is now retired from full-time ministry in Rhode Island. “He was studious. He was certainly committed to his understanding of theology and the mission of the church ... He was a very likable guy; a very open and supporting person.” Though friendly, Ames remembered Daniels as a young man with very firm opinions. “He felt very strongly that Northern liberals should not just go down and march then not do anything,” says Ames. “He was moved very strongly to go back. He took a leave of absence from seminary to go down there and work on voter registration. “The year before he did that, 1963-64, he was on a fieldwork assignment here in Providence, and he worked out of the cathedral building in Providence on race relations.” Ames said even against the backdrop of a tumultuous time in America’s history, Daniels’ death had a profound effect on their seminary class. “[President John F. Kennedy Jr.] had been murdered, Jon was murdered, Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, Bobby Kennedy was murdered,” said Ames. “It was a time of great strife in our culture, and what it said to us as a class – and there were 52 of us in our seminary class – really brought us together in a rather cohesive way and gave us a sense of needing to make a difference.”
Heeding Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call, Daniels headed to Selma, Alabama, to march for equality. Afterward, Daniels and a friend missed their bus back north. At that point, Daniels decided to stay in Alabama and continue his social justice work. However, it was through his field work in impoverished areas of Providence, Rhode Island, as a seminarian that Daniels saw his first glimpse of social justice ministry. This is where the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island chose to build on Daniels’ legacy, returning to help underserved areas of Providence. The Jonathan Daniels House was created as a place for the diocese to play a role in the type of social justice ministry Daniels took part in during his life. The house is part of the Episcopal Service Corps, a network of over 30 similar programs across the country. The Episcopal Church once operated several parishes in the capital city’s most impoverished area, South Providence – one of which Daniels worked in – but both eventually closed over the years. The establishment of the Jonathan Daniels House signals a return to the church’s social justice ministry in the city. “This is very much what Jonathan Daniels did,” said Rev. Linda Grenz, the Rhode Island diocese’s canon to the ordinary. “It’s sort of living and working in the same environs that he did when he was in seminary and working in Cambridge.” Founded in fall 2014, the Jonathan Daniels House aims to house young men and women who are devoted to social justice issues. The interns are required to spend at least 35 hours per week engaged in advocacy and social service work for underprivileged communities. In its first year, the house supported two interns, both women in their early 30s. “We find agencies that are prepared to host interns, offer them basically full-time jobs, then match the intern to the position being offered,” said Grenz. “One [intern] is working in an organization that serves mothers with children who are coming in off the streets and transitioning into housing. She’s preparing them to find housing, to find work, to be oriented.” The other worked in an urban arts program, pairing teenagers with working artists in mentor relationships. Appointments last for an academic year, running August through June. The diocese hopes to eventually expand the project to support four members. “It comes out of this desire to honor the church’s work in Providence, as well as honor the work of Jonathan Daniels himself,”
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explained Rev. Gillian Barr, executive director of the Jonathan Daniels House. “We are trying to continue his commitment to living and serving alongside those who are living along the margins; helping young adults grow in their spiritual lives and understand the connection between their spiritual life and looking for justice in the community.” The project was located in a three-bedroom apartment during its first year, but it will relocate to a former parish rectory in fall 2015. The diocese’s goal is to have a long-term rental situation set up in Providence. Barr stressed the interns can come from any background of beliefs. “You don’t necessarily have to be an active Christian to be in the program,” said Barr, “but the program is done from a Christian spiritual perspective and includes worship, prayer and faith-based learning. You have to live in that for a nine-month period.” To honor his legacy and continue in the work he gave his life for, the Diocese of Rhode Island wants to keep social justice ministry going. “Jonathan Daniels’ life was transformed even by his initial work here in Providence,” says Grenz. “It was him as a young adult working with people in the streets on two levels; working with people who were poor and had many needs and also working across racial lines. It’s very clear that’s what encouraged him to take the stand he did in the civil rights movement with him being martyred.” “What we’re doing is creating a house where other young people can walk in his footsteps ... where they can also have that transformative experience by serving those in need and taking a stand against racism and advocating for racial justice.”
Daniels with Rachel West in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Photo courtesy VMI Archives.
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2013 Pilgrimage to Alabama August 2013
In August 2013, 300 pilgrims marched back from the Hayneville, Alabama, jail where Jonathan Daniels ’61 was held with the other demonstrators. (Photos from the 2013-4 Alumni Review.)
Bob Heely ’69, past president of the Alumni Association, with Ruby Sales, the young woman whose life was saved 48 years ago by Daniels.
Bob Randolph ’67 at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, which is the site of the Bloody Sunday conflict March 7, 1965, that brought Daniels to the state.
Visiting the Jonathan Daniels ’61 Memorial monument in Hayneville, Alabama, were, from left, Heely, Tom Jones ’69, Bill Lee ’59, Mike Hanna ’69 and Randolph. The memorial monument was donated by E. Cabell Brand ’44 and his wife, Shirley. Lee Pierce ’59, Bob Graves ’60 and Colin Campbell ’67 also attended the event but are not pictured.
Jonathan Daniels ’61
Marshall ’65 Donates Daniels ’61 Cape to VMI Museum VMI Alumni Review, 2013-3
Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III ’62, superintendent, right, accepted Jonathan Daniels’ ’61 cape from John Mac Marshall ’65. VMI photo by John Robertson IV.
A first class cape owned by Jonathan M. Daniels ’61 was donated to the VMI Museum by John M. Marshall ’65 in a ceremony held Feb. 19, 2013. The cape will be on display in the VMI Museum, providing an opportunity to share the story of Daniels’ time at VMI and his role in the civil rights movement. “VMI provided Daniels a forum in which he really examined his own character and his purpose in life,” said Col. Keith Gibson ’77, executive director of the VMI Museum System. “VMI was very much a challenge for Daniels, and he persevered in his academics and was voted valedictorian by his class.” In 1965, while attending seminary, Daniels took part in the civil rights movement, spending the spring and summer months serving African-American communities in Alabama. After spending six days in jail for picketing whites-only stores, Daniels was shot and killed Aug. 20 while shielding an African-American girl [Ruby Sales] from a shotgun blast. “Daniels saw what was right. He did it, and he paid for it with his life,” said Marshall. “When you stop and think about who this cape belonged to and the slice of history [of which it is] a part, the responsibility is enormous, and you have to be sure that what you’re doing with it is the right thing.” Bringing the cape back to the Institute was
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a natural choice, and its presence will aid in relating Daniels’ story to future generations of cadets. “We’re working on an exhibit on the contributions that alumni have made in the military and civilian world, and of course, Jonathan Daniels is a significant part of that story,” said Gibson. “The display will remind cadets of today that these people, who went on to do great things, started out just where they are.” While VMI owns a few of the capes, which remain in use as a cold-weather uniform item for officer of the guard and officer of the day, the capes were once widely used by first class cadets. “Its heyday was in the 1920s; there’s no doubt about it. Virtually every first classman would have had one,” said Gibson. “After World War II, the cape became less and less common in the Corps. It was still an authorized uniform item, but you had to get one that was handed down from previous generations.” By the time Marshall matriculated, the capes had become rare but were still a prized possession among the first class cadets who were able to obtain them – used. “It was a very fashionable uniform item for first classmen,” said Gibson. “They could wear it in lieu of their overcoats for social events. It was a prized possession of first classmen; it was a symbol of their achievement.”
Cognizant of the rarity of the capes, Marshall and a classmate, Lou Siegel ’65, split the cost of a cape shortly after matriculating. By the end of his fourth class year, Marshall had bought his Brother Rat’s share in the cape and was looking forward to the day when he could wear it. “I was a Rat when I bought it, so I had it hanging up for three years, not wearing it until I had earned that right,” said Marshall. “It was sort of betting on the future, being an optimist.” Jonathan Daniels happened to be the former owner of that cape, and while Daniels and Marshall never met, Marshall remained aware of the connection and carefully maintained the artifact. “When the church declared Jonathan Daniels to be a martyr to the faith, I began to think that this wasn’t really mine. [I was] simply the custodian,” said Marshall. He drove from Texas to bring the cape to the VMI Museum, ensuring that it would arrive safely. “It’s appropriate that the cape be brought back here to be put in the custody of VMI,” Marshall said. “As I see it [from an historical perspective], VMI has stood for inculcating integrity, honor and fidelity. There are few examples among VMI alumni who exemplify that more completely than Jonathan Daniels.”
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Jonathan Daniels in Alabama • 1965 •
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Jonathan Daniels ’61
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Civil Rights Hero Honored Daniels ’61 Courtyard Dedication VMI Alumni Review, Spring 2004
It was June 1961 when Jonathan Daniels ’61 last walked the post in his cadet uniform. However, with the dedication of the Jonathan Daniels Arch and Courtyard in March 2004, his words will echo always through barracks. Above the archway connecting barracks with the courtyard is a quote from Daniels’ valedictory address given during graduation for the Class of 1961. It reads, “I wish you the decency and nobility of which you are capable.” Daniels is a “prime example of a citizen solider,” said Col. Keith Gibson ’77, director
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of the VMI Museum System. Though he did not serve in the military, he served in “an army with a religious ministry,” explained Gibson. A student at the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Daniels followed his convictions and calling to Alabama in hopes of making a difference in the nation’s civil rights struggle. On a sultry August day in 1965, Daniels died during a bloody confrontation when he pushed a black teenage girl named Ruby Sales out of the way of a shotgun blast. That sacrifice touched many lives and will be permanently remembered at VMI through the courtyard and arch. The ceremony dedicating the Daniels Courtyard and Arch was held March 25, 2004, in Jackson Memorial Hall. The Rev. William Rankin, who was a seminarian with Daniels and later became dean of the Episcopal Theological School, and Donzaleigh Abernathy, whose father played a very active role in the civil rights movement, were featured. Rankin gave the invocation, and Abernathy spoke on the topic of civility. The dedication of the courtyard followed the presentation. At this ceremony, Rankin commented on the life of Daniels, and a 3 by 4 foot bronze plaque was unveiled. Brigadier Gen. Lee D. Badgett ’61, professor of economics and a brother rat of Daniels, assisted in the unveiling. The dedication was followed by a viewing of a video production made by Kelci
Williams, a high school senior from Uniontown, Kansas. The video, titled, “I Just Shot Two Preachers,” described events leading up to and surrounding Daniels’ sacrifice. It won the National History Day Competition for the senior individual documentary. Other guests invited to the unveiling included Ruby Sales; Emily Daniels Roby, Daniels’ sister; Richard Morrisoe, who was also shot in the incident in which Daniels was killed; and several other friends and colleagues of Daniels. Morrisoe spoke to the Corps at the 2003 Daniels ceremony. The story of Daniels has had international impact. He is listed as a modern day martyr in the Chapel of Martyrs in England’s Canterbury Cathedral. He is one of 15 martyrs to be recognized in this chapel, and one of only two Americans – the other being Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Daniels has had a tremendous impact on VMI, as well. The Daniels Award was first given by the Promaji Club in 1992. Six years later, the club graciously gave the VMI Board of Visitors exclusive use of the name when the board established the Jonathan Myrick Daniels ’61 Humanitarian Award. The award, which recognizes individuals who have made significant personal sacrifices to protect or improve the lives of others, was given for the first time in 2001 to former President Jimmy Carter. (Article first published by VMI Communications & Marketing.)
Jonathan Daniels ’61
Wreath Laying Ceremony in Daniels Courtyard March 11, 2015
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Jonathan M. Daniels ’61 Humanitarian Award Presented to Rep. John Lewis VMI Alumni Review, 2015-Issue 3
In remarks given after he accepted VMI’s Jonathan M. Daniels ’61 Humanitarian Award March 11, 2015, Rep. John Lewis counseled the Corps of Cadets to “never give up, never give in and never give out” in their quest to create a more just society. The award is presented by the VMI Board of Visitors in honor of Daniels, valedictorian of the VMI Class of 1961, who was killed while saving the life of African-American teenager Ruby Sales during the violent struggle for civil rights in Alabama in 1965. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Daniels’ death. Lewis, who has represented Georgia’s 5th District in Congress since 1986, was honored with the award because of his commitment to social justice and deep ties to the civil rights movement. During his remarks, the son of Alabama sharecroppers reminded his audience that the need to get in “good trouble, necessary trouble” had driven him ever since a childhood vision of himself as a preacher had led him to preach to chickens in his family’s backyard. As a young adult, Lewis went out of his way to meet Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whom he described in a later meeting with cadets as an “older brother.” Alongside King and other leaders of the civil rights movement, Lewis participated in the “Bloody Sunday” voting rights march March 7, 1965, during which he and many others were severely injured when Alabama state troopers, some on horseback, attacked the unarmed protesters with billy clubs and tear gas as they crossed a bridge in Selma, Alabama. “I thought I was going to die on that bridge,” said Lewis, who required a hospital stay to recover from the beating he received. Lewis also took the opportunity to put the Selma bridge incident in perspective. The congressman said that when people tell him little progress has been made toward racial equality in this country, he tells them, “Come
walk in my shoes. ... From someone who grew up preaching to chickens, to be able to stand near that bridge and introduce the first African-American president to that multitude of people, I feel more than lucky. I feel blessed.” But that sense of blessing didn’t come without a bitter and heavy cost. “The blood of Jonathan Daniels ... helped to bring us to where we are today,” said Lewis, who called Daniels, a seminarian at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the time of his death, “a beautiful spirit, a beautiful soul.” Lewis likewise reminded his listeners that because of people like Daniels and others who stepped forward to make good and necessary trouble, the signs of segregation which marked his childhood, have long since disappeared from the American landscape. Addressing the cadets in the audience, Lewis noted, “Your children, my grandchildren, will not see those signs. The only place you can see them is in a book, a museum or a video.” With his lifelong commitment to optimism, Lewis took the opportunity to look ahead and envision a world very much like the one King, his late mentor, had lived and died for. “Let’s do the best we can to create an America and a world community that’s at peace with itself,” Lewis exhorted his listeners. “Lay down the burden of hate and the burden of separation.” As he concluded his remarks, Lewis quoted the late A. Philip Randolph, organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, who often said, “Maybe our forefathers and our foremothers all came to this great land in different ships. But we’re all in the same boat now.”
Lewis, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among other awards, is only the fourth individual to be honored with the Daniels Award since the honor was first presented in 2001. That year, former President Jimmy Carter became the inaugural recipient. In 2006, the award was presented to Andrew Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and in 2011, to Dr. Paul Hebert ’68, an international humanitarian aid worker. In addition to the awards ceremony and speech by Lewis, other activities on post in honor of Daniels included a wreath-laying ceremony in the Daniels Courtyard and a special performance of “Jonathan Myrick Daniels: the Martyr of Lowndes County” by the VMI Theater. Among the many out-of-town guests attending the events were a number of people from Alabama. A special guest at the awards ceremony was Father Richard Morrisroe, a Roman Catholic priest who was severely injured in the attack that killed Daniels. (Article first published by VMI Communications and Marketing.)
Lewis spoke to cadets in Cameron Hall following the acceptance of his award. VMI photos by Kevin Remington.
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Jonathan Daniels ’61
“We have spent four years in preparation for SOMETHING. What that something is, who we are, we do not know.”
Cover photos courtesy VMI Archives.
from Jonathan Daniels’ valedictory address
