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Civil Rights Organizer, Preacher Dies At 90

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The Associated Press

Published: September 20, 2008

NEW ORLEANS - The Rev. Simmie Lee Harvey, 90, a civil rights stalwart who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and helped plan the March on Washington in 1963, died Sept. 10 of complications from a stroke.

Harvey was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was created in 1957 by King and other leaders from across the South with the purpose of advancing racial equality.

"Rev. Harvey was one of the original leaders of SCLC," Joseph Lowery, a former president of the group for 20 years, said. "He was a genuine and authentic person. He wore the badge of SCLC on his coat and in his heart."

Harvey helped plan the March on Washington, which culminated with King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Harvey was born in Jacksonville and grew up in St. Joseph, La. He graduated from the Utica Institute in Utica, Miss., and earned master's and doctoral degrees from Union Baptist College and Theological Seminary. The SCLC said one of Harvey's last public appearances was in July at the group's 50th annual convention in New Orleans, the city where the group was founded.

The Associated Press

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