The nation paid its final respects Thursday to the Rev. C.T. Vivian, a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement who helped end segregation across the South and left an enduring imprint on U.S. history. Vivian, a close ally of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was mourned by civil rights icons along with Oprah Winfrey, Hank Aaron and others during a Thursday funeral at Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Vivian died Friday at age 95. Vivian began organizing sit-ins against segregation in Peoria, Illinois, in the 1940s. He later joined forces with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to end segregation.