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Wide Angle Lunch: John Reynolds

John Reynolds
The Fight for Freedom

In the summer of 1965, an eighteen-year old boy, filled with frustration and anger at the injustices of the segregated society in his hometown of Troy, Alabama, volunteered to help Civil Rights workers sent to Alabama by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as part of a campaign to register black people to vote. A few short months later he found himself in Atlanta, standing in the sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church, being interviewed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for a position on SCLC's field staff.

As a young foot soldier in the Civil Rights Movement, John Reynolds was an eyewitness to history. In his recent book, The Fight for Freedom: A Memoir of My Years in the Civil Rights Movement, he shares his experiences in some of the hot spots of that day, such as Selma, Birmingham, and Mississippi. A passionate and dedicated soldier, Reynolds was jailed more than twenty times and beaten on a number of occasions as he went through some of the toughest battles of the Movement and played a role in awakening the national conscience and redeeming the soul of America.

Reynolds is an ordained American Baptist minister and served as a pastor in Rhode Island for twelve years. Born in Alabama, he spent seven years with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, working with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph David Abernathy. He currently lives near Charleston.