Civil Rights Pioneer, Leader Rev. Woods Dies

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/15-2

Civil Rights Pioneer, Leader Rev. Woods Dies

by Dennis Hevesi


NEW YORK - The Rev. Abraham L. Woods Jr., a civil rights campaigner who led the first lunch-counter sit-ins in Birmingham, Ala., and three decades later played a pivotal role confronting racial discrimination by country clubs, died last Friday in Birmingham, his hometown. He was 80.


The Rev. Abraham L. Woods Jr. at a unity breakfast with his wife, Marian. He was one of the civil rights leaders behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his ''I Have a Dream'' speech. (John woods/file 2008)

The cause was cancer, said his son, Abraham Woods III.

Rev. Woods, a Baptist minister who had been friends with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. since their days together at Morehouse College in Atlanta, was one of the civil rights leaders standing behind him when King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech Aug. 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

snip//

One granddaughter, Marian Bell, said Rev. Woods followed the presidential campaign this year with mounting hopes, 45 years after Birmingham.

On election night last week, in his hospital room, Bell asked him what he thought about the results. He said, "If I could wake up Martin, Coretta, Rosa," along with other leaders of the struggle, "I would tell them that my son Barack made it."

[Hekate]

1. "If I could wake up Martin, Coretta, Rosa" --And now he can tell them himself....

:cry: I am so glad for Rev. Woods that he lived to see this day. I will never forget Rev. Jesse Jackson's face on Election Night as he wept so openly in that mass of celebrating people. It's been such a long journey for so many.

Hekate

[babylonsister]

2. I'm so thrilled he got to share in this, too. So many didn't... nt

[malaise]

3. Isn't that the truth - he was lucky

Maybe it was all that kept him going.
Rest in peace Rev Woods. The old guard is leaving the scene. :cry:

[northofdenali]

4. I had the honor of meeting Rev. Woods many years ago.

My daughter had won a small award in grade school, and Rev. Woods was the presenter. A humble man, and just GOOD to the bone. He will be missed.