User:Vernitacarterweller/sandbox

Reverend Vernon E. Carter (1919 - 2007) was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was the son of Ernestine and James Carter and a descendant of Isaac D. Maddox, Civil War veteran. Vernon Carter was a Boston Civil Rights leader in the city of Boston. He was originally ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1942. He later became a Lutheran pastor in 1956. Vernon pastored the historic All Saints Lutheran Church in the South End of Boston at 85 West Newton Street (which was torn down in 2021) until 1979, serving as a pastor to the community supporting poor Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and Haitians. Rev. Vernon Carter is best known for his 114 day vigil outside the Boston School Committee at 15 Beacon Street. On April 28th Rev. Carter put on a large placard and began walking back and forth in front of the building where Louise Day Hicks and the school committee offices were headquartered. Rev. Carter was nicknamed the "Pastor who lived on the sidewalk" by his press secretary Phyllis M. Ryan. One reason he earned that title was due to the fact that he lived in a van the entire time that was parked beside the building. In addition, he performed pastoral counseling and meetings on the location. After the 114 day vigil Massachusetts Governor Volpe signed the Racial Imbalance Act into law. This was the first time such a law had been past in the United States. Such community leaders as Ruth Batson, Paul Parks, Rev. Virgil Wood, Rev. Earl Lawson, Rev. James Breeden, and many others partnered with Rev. Carter challenging the status quo.

Rev. Carter also owns intellectual property of the "The Third and Final Emancipation" from his unpublished manuscript of the same name. His personal manifesto for the emergence of a self determined definition of a new identity for people of color. This philosophy is the continuation of Martin Luther King Jr's Beloved Community.

https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:5138k212s

Vernon Carter Vigil - Boston Before Busing - https://dsgsites.new.edu/desegregation/vernon-carter-vigil/