Daniels, Jonathan Myrick. Records

AO-00-R0354.05

The Archives of the Episcopal Church

Fonds

Daniels, Jonathan Myrick. Records

• 1955-2011 (Creation)

8 cu.ft. (8 boxes)

A seminarian from the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and an ESCRU member, Jonathan Daniels worked closely with civil rights leaders during the Selma, Alabama demonstrations. In August of 1965, he returned to Selma on an assignment to assist in a voter-registration project in Lowndes County. During that trip, Daniels participated in a demonstration in Fort Deposit and was arrested along with other protesters and taken to the local jail. After his release on August 20, Daniels, Richard Morrisroe (a Roman Catholic priest), and two African American civil rights workers approached a small grocery store to purchase a cold drink. At the entrance to the store, a man wielding a shotgun challenged them. He ordered them away and then began firing. Morrisroe was wounded, and Jonathan Daniels was killed. His alleged killer, a former deputy sheriff, was charged with manslaughter. Claiming self-defense, Thomas Coleman insisted that Daniels and Morrisroe had threatened him with a knife and a gun. A trial ensued, and although the population of the community was largely African American, Coleman was tried and acquitted by an all-white jury. Jonathan Daniels was the twenty-sixth civil rights worker killed in the South.

This collection of Jonathan Daniels historical materials was assembled almost entirely by donations to the Episcopal Divinity School Sherrill Library. It includes materials generated by EDS in the course of responding to the Daniels tragedy and establishing the Jonathan Daniels Fellowship Fund and related programming. It also includes oral interviews, photographs, books, articles, and clippings relating to Daniels; published and unpublished audio and video recordings; transcripts of the trial of Thomas Coleman, the man who shot Daniels; and research files donated by authors of works about Daniels. Copies of original works by Daniels (school papers and exams, articles, correspondence, and sermons) round out the collection.

Oral interviews are arranged alphabetically.

Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.

The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.

• English

• Civil rights

• Alabama, Selma
• Alabama, Lowndes County

• Episcopal Divinity School (Subject)
• Daniels, Jonathan Myrick (Subject)
• Morrisroe, Richard (Subject)