high school sophomore, where she was also an active leader in church and civic youth activities. She attended Eastern Michigan University where she became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha and received a degree in Social Work in 1951. She later moved to Dayton, Ohio, where she worked for the DeSota Bass Courts Housing Project and was an active member of the Greater Allen AME Church and sang in the choir. It was later she moved to Peoria, Illinois to become the Women’s and Girl’s Supervisor for the George Washington Carver Community Center, where she met C. T. Vivian. They married one year later in 1952 and within months C.T. Vivian was called to the ministry.
The union flourished for 58 years and produced six children. The Vivians moved to Atlanta when C.T. joined the executive staff of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and while he traveled throughout the South organizing marches and movements against racial discrimination and injustices, Octavia Vivian worked tirelessly to end racial segregation in DeKalb County Public Schools. She became one of the first African-American Deputy Voter Registrars in DeKalb County, Georgia.
The deceased took the lead in collecting and organizing documents that detailed the history of SCLC and the American Civil Rights Movement, and in 1970 she authored and published Coretta, the first autobiography of Coretta Scott King. She revised and republished a memorial edition of Coretta upon Mrs. King’s death in 2006. Octavia Vivian assisted Mrs. Coretta King in establishing the M.L. King JR. Center and worked with Coretta daily for several months in the center’s first location at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta. She also worked for the Cascade United Methodist Church under Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery and in Public Relations at Morris Brown College.
Among survivors of Octavia G. Vivian are Denise Vivian Morse (Carlton), Kira E. Vivian, Mark Evans (Utrophia), Anita Charisse Thornton (Andre), and Albert Louis Vivian (DeAna Jo), children; 14 grandchildren, a myriad of great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by one son, Cordy Vivian Jr. in January 2010.
About Post Author
