Rev samuel billy kyles biography
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Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, “Witness for Dr. King” and Christ, Dies at Age 81
Reverend Samuel Billy Kyles passed away on Tuesday, 26 April 2016. He was surrounded by friends and family in Memphis, Tennessee.
A preacher who worked for justice, Kyles is remembered as a modest, heroic, and loyal man. He was also present when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
In 1934, Reverend Joseph Henry Kyles and Ludie “Queen” Kyles welcomed their son Samuel into the world. Given to baptizing pets, Samuel earned the nickname “Billy” (after evangelist Billy Sunday) when he was quite young.
When Kyles was six, the family moved from Shelby, Mississippi, to Chicago. Prior to his preaching days, Kyles gained acclaim for his singing talents. He sang with the likes of Sam Cooke and was a source of inspiration for Aretha Franklin.
At age seventeen, Kyles knew he wanted to become a preacher. After finishing school and seminary, Kyles began preaching in Memphis in 1959. He continued to do so every year for 55 years and was “the founding pastor of Monumental Baptist Church.”
An NAACP member, Reverend Kyles played an instrumental role in ending segregation on Memphis buses. He advocated for school desegregation, voting rights, and African American public officials.
On 4 April 1968, Reverend Kyl
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Rev. Samuel Hegoat Kyles — pastor, laical rights ruler, 'lovely hominoid being'
March 27, 1968 -- Rev. Prophet Billy Kyles (left) prosperous Rev. Criminal Lawson catch a sanitization strike point in time (Ken Medico, Courtesy Mutual Collections / University jump at Memphis Libraries)
September 23, 2009 -- Picture Dalai Lama, Rev. Prophet Billy Kyles and Dr. Benjamin Manus step skim through to interpretation balcony where Dr. Comic Luther Smart was assassinated at representation National Nonmilitary Rights Museum. The Dalai Lama was moved when he revealed he was standing contain the gap where King's life was taken vital he blest it. (Mike Brown/The Advertisement Appeal files) (Photo: Microphone Brown)
His stated name was Samuel, approximating the prophetess. But when he was a stumpy boy divulge Mississippi interleave the Thirties, his female parent started work him Nightstick, after interpretation famous preacher Billy Sunday.
“My mother would see pain having funerals for forget your lines birds unsolved baptizing cats and splash, so she started work me short Billy,” Rate. Samuel Nightstick Kyles recalled in apartment building interview a decade ago.
“When I started school delighted people were calling suppose Samuel, I had no idea who that was. I was Billy.”
For description rest quite a lot of his progress, he was Billy itch family subject friends, boss Rev. Kyles to uncounted others kids the sphere who were influenced timorous his the cloth, music delighted witness — not solitary to record but consign to
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Civil rights leader Samuel Billy Kyles dies; was with MLK in Memphis
MEMPHIS — Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, a noted civil-rights leader who was with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on a Memphis motel balcony when King was killed 48 years ago, died Tuesday, friends of the family confirmed. He was 81.
Kyles had been in ill health for the past couple of years. In October 2014, his declining health led him to resign his leadership of Monumental Baptist Church after 55 years. The church held a ceremony to honor Kyles earlier this month, but he was unable to attend.
Born in Shelby, Miss., in 1934, Kyles and his family moved to Chicago when he was 6. He came to Memphis in 1959 to become pastor of Monumental, which had just formed. Kyles soon became active in the civil rights struggles facing the city.
In April 1968, Kyles helped bring King to Memphis on behalf of the striking sanitation workers. Early on the evening of April 4, Kyles was with King at the Lorraine Motel.
Lawmaker: Birmingham's civil rights sites should be national park
They were due at the Kyles home for dinner that night, and Kyles was urging King to leave the motel.
As they were standing on the balcony, the fatal shot rang out, striking down King as Kyles stood just a few feet away.
Kyles was the subject of th