Casket of civil rights leader C.T. Vivian is taken by horse-drawn carriage to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Atlanta tomb as mourners pay their respects following the activist's death aged 95
The casket of The Rev. C.T. Vivian was placed in front of the tomb of Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta Wednesday on the eve of his funeral.
Mourners lined the streets and gathered outside the Georgia Capital as the body of the civil rights activist was taken by horse-drawn carriage along the historic Auburn Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park.
King and Vivian were close allies after they met 1955 as they both became prominent names in the civil rights movement.
Earlier Wednesday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Sen. Nikema Williams and other local politicians joined mourners to pay their respects for the respected activist as his body lay in state in the rotunda of the Georgia Capitol.
According to USA Today, Vivian is the first civilian Black man to lie in state at the Georgia Capitol.
He died Friday at age 95 of natural causes.
Mourners look on as the body of civil rights leader C.T. Vivian rests in front of a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Georgia Capitol building on Wednesday. Vivian is the first civilian Black man to lie in state at the Georgia Capitol
The body of civil rights leader C.T. Vivian is seen during a stop at the crypt where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King are interred. A private funeral takes place Thursday due to the coronavirus pandemic
People raise their fists as the remains of civil rights leader C.T. Vivian is loaded into a hearse Wednesday. Mourners were given a final opportunity to pay their respects after thew activist's death of natural causes aged 95 on Friday
A horse-drawn hearse brings the casket of the late Civil Rights leader Reverend C.T. Vivian along historic Auburn Avenue in Atlanta on Wednesday. Vivian lay in state in the Georgia Capitol before being driven to MLK's crypt
Vivian's casket is placed on a horse-drawn hearse on Wednesday to be take to the crypt of close ally Martin Luther King Jr
Ahead of a private burial ceremony on Thursday, mourners were given a final opportunity to march with Vivian as his body was taken to King's crypt.
The masked mourners carried pictures of Vivian and Martin Luther King Jr. as they gave him a final salute.
As the casket was taken from the Georgia Capitol, it was placed for a moment of tribute beside the statue of his friend King before being transferred into the horse-drawn open carriage.
The processional was led by a police motorcade.
'This is an ultimate honor,' his son Mark Vivian said after a short ceremony in the Capitol’s rotunda.
'It’s just an honor that now more folks are learning who he is and what he stood for, and also what the movement was and how the movement came about.'
A horse-drawn carriage is followed by supporters as it carries the body of C.T. Vivian down Capital Avenue in Atlanta
Mourners lined the streets and followed the procession that was led by a police motorcade
Vivian's casket is pictured on its way to the tomb of Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta Scott King Wednesday
Dozens were gathered at Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park to welcome Vivian's casket
Women hold signs as they watch the body of civil rights leader C.T. Vivian carried off the grounds of the Georgia Capitol
On the way, the casket stopped at the headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where Vivian was the director of national affiliates in the 1960s and national president in 2012, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
More than a decade before lunch-counter protests made headlines during the Civil Rights movement, Vivian began organizing sit-ins against segregation in Peoria, Illinois, in the 1940s.
He met King soon after the budding civil rights leader's victory in the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott.
King himself had not been allowed to lie in state when then-Gov. Lesater Maddox refused it following his 1968 assassination.
Masked mourners followed the procession after Vivian lay in state for three hours at the Georgia Capitol building
Some mourners carried pictures of Vivian and of his friend Martin Luther King Jr. as they followed his casket Wednesday
The remains of civil rights leader C.T. Vivian are carried past Ebenezer Baptist Church on a horse-drawn carriage
'As one of the foremost advocates for justice during the Civil Rights Movement and one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.´s most trusted friends and deputies, C.T. Vivian stood on the front lines of the fight for equality,' Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said during Wednesday's ceremony at the Capitol.
'During one of the most turbulent times in our nation´s history, C.T. Vivian was steadfast and calm, grounded in the knowledge that he fought for something much bigger than the obstacle in front of him,' Kemp added.
Vivian helped organize the Freedom Rides to integrate buses across the South and trained waves of activists in non-violent protest.
The Georgia state flag is prepared to lie on the casket of The Rev. C.T. Vivian in the capitol rotunda during his memorial service, Wednesday
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp prepares to speak during a memorial service
It was Vivian's bold challenge of a segregationist sheriff while trying to register black voters in Selma, Alabama, that sparked hundreds, then thousands, to march across the Edmund Pettus bridge.
'He has always been one of the people who had the most insight, wisdom, integrity and dedication,' said Andrew Young, who also worked alongside King.
Cordy Tindell Vivian was born July 28, 1924, in Howard County, Mo., but moved to Macomb, Ill., with his mother when he was still a young boy.
Mourners pass the casket of Rev. C.T. Vivian in the capitol rotunda during his memorial service
Mourners sit in the capitol rotunda around the casket
Georgia state Sen. Nikema Williams (center) is consoled during the memorial service for the activist
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and First lady Marty Kemp bow their heads during prayer service at the mermorial
As a young theology student at the American Baptist College in Nashville, Vivian helped organize that city's first sit-ins. Under King's leadership at SCLC, Vivian was national director of affiliates, traveling around the South to register voters.
In 1965 in Selma, he was met on the Dallas County courthouse by Sheriff Jim Clark, who listened as Vivian argued for voting rights, and then punched him in the mouth.
Vivian stood back up and kept talking as the cameras rolled before he was stitched up and jailed. His mistreatment, seen on national television, eventually drew thousands of protesters, whose determination to march from Selma to Montgomery pressured Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act later that year.
The tomb of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King at the MLK Center is seen above in this file photo. A horse-drawn carriage will take Vivian's casket past Martin Luther King Jr.'s tomb in Atlanta following the service
Pallbearers bring the casket into the rotunda of the building
Mourners pass the casket of The Rev. C.T. Vivian in the capitol rotunda during his memorial service ahead of the casket beng taken to the tomb
Vivian helped organize the Freedom Rides to integrate buses across the South and trained waves of activists in non-violent protest (Pictured with marchers in Selma)
Vivian served in the SCLC after King's assassination in 1968, and became its interim president in 2012 (pictured in 2011)
Vivian continued to serve in the SCLC after King's assassination in 1968, and became its interim president in 2012, lending renewed credibility and a tangible link to the civil rights era after the SCLC stagnated for years due to financial mismanagement and infighting.
Vivian was honored by former President Barack Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.
Vivian 'was always one of the first in the action - a Freedom Rider, a marcher in Selma, beaten, jailed, almost killed, absorbing blows in hopes that fewer of us would have to,' Obama said in a statement shortly after his death.
A private funeral is set for Thursday at Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta.
He is survived by four daughters and two sons, along with several grandchildren. Vivian's wife died in 2011, AJC reports.
Vivian was honored by former President Barack Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013
