Lawrence Guyot | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1939-07-17)July 17, 1939 |
| Died | November 23, 2012(2012-11-23) (aged 73) Mount Rainier, Maryland, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Tougaloo College |
| Occupation | DirectorMississippi Freedom Democratic Party |
| Organization | Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party |
| Known for | Civil rights activist |
| Movement | Civil Rights Movement Peace movement |
| Spouse | Monica Klein Guyot |
| Children | Julie Guyot-Diangone, Lawrence Guyot III |
Lawrence Guyot Jr. (July 17, 1939 – November 23, 2012) was an Americancivil rights activist and the director of theMississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964.
Guyot was a native ofPass Christian, Mississippi, where he was raisedCatholic.
He joined the Freedom Movement in Mississippi in 1961, when he was a student atTougaloo College in Mississippi. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry in 1963. Guyot also directed theCongress of Racial Equality (CORE) project inHattiesburg, Mississippi, and later became director of theMississippi Freedom Democratic Party via the1963 Freedom Ballot of 80,000 participants and the Summer Project of 1964.[1] The major accomplishment of SNCC/MFDP was to establish a close bond with theUnited States Department of Justice.[2] In 1966, Guyot ran for Congress as an anti-war candidate.[3]
Guyot was severely physically beaten many times, including while at theMississippi State Penitentiary, also known asParchman Farm, in the early 1960s. He has stated that his testicles were burned with sticks by police officers.[4]
Guyot helped lay the groundwork for theVoting Rights Act of 1965. He received a degree in law in 1971 fromRutgers University, and then moved toWashington, D.C., where he worked for the election ofMarion Barry as mayor in 1978.
Muhammad Ali, the world boxing champion, was a good friend of Lawrence Guyot.[citation needed]
Guyot has appeared in many documentaries such asEyes on the Prize, released in 1987. From the 1990s until the mid-2000s, Guyot often appeared as a commentator onFox News, defending the legacy of thecivil rights movement in heated discussions with hostsBill O'Reilly andSean Hannity. He continued speaking out on voting rights issues and encouraged people to vote for PresidentBarack Obama. Until his retirement in 2004, Guyot was a program monitor for the D.C. Department of Human Services’ Office ofEarly Childhood Development.
His daughter DrJulie Guyot-Diangone announced on November 24, 2012, that her father had died at home, inMount Rainier, Maryland. She said he had had heart problems and had suffered fromdiabetes.[5]
| External videos | |
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 “Interview with Lawrence Guyot” circa 1979 conducted for America, They Loved You Madly, a precursor to theEyes on the Prize documentary in which he discusses the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) and civil rights activism in Mississippi, including the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the Democratic National Convention in 1964. He also discusses being brutalized by police in Winona, Mississippi. |
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