Rodney Norman Powell (born 1935). is a former civil rights leader in the

Nashville Student Movement The Nashville Student Movement was an organization that challenged racial segregation in Nashville, Tennessee during the Civil Rights Movement. It was created during workshops in nonviolence taught by James Lawson. The students from this orga ...

and an activist for LGBTQ rights. He was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania, to Raymond and Norma Powell. Powell began advocating for African-American civil rights in the 1960s in accordance with

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

's nonviolent teachings. Later in his life, he began actively working for LGBTQ rights in the 2000s, continuing to draw inspiration from King's

nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

philosophy. He attended

Meharry Medical College Meharry Medical College is a private historically black medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first me ...

in 1957 seeking out a "more authentic black experience" in comparison to his undergraduate school, St. Joseph's. Powell married Gloria Johnson and they had three children together. Later, they divorced in 1975 and Powell relocated to Hawaii. He received a position at John A. Burns School of Medicine and met Bob Eddinger with whom he began a relationship. Both Eddinger and Powell continue to reside together in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Hawaii.

Civil Rights Movement

Powell's civil rights activism began after he moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, in 1957. Alongside other civil rights leaders

Diane Nash Diane Judith Nash (born May 15, 1938) is an American civil rights activist, and a leader and strategist of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement. Nash's campaigns were among the most successful of the era. Her efforts included the first s ...

James Bevel James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 – December 19, 2008) was a minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its Director of Direct ...

, and

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, Powell began training in

Nonviolent resistance Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, cons ...

under the guidance of James Lawson. This group became known as the

, which began the

Nashville sit-ins The Nashville sit-ins, which lasted from February 13 to May 10, 1960, were part of a protest to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee. The sit-in campaign, coordinated by the Nashville S ...

. These sit-ins led to the desegregation of lunch counters in Nashville, making it one of the first major cities to do so. During these protests Powell found it increasingly difficult to maintain nonviolence as he got aggravated. When this occurred Reverend

C. T. Vivian Cordy Tindell Vivian (July 30, 1924July 17, 2020) was an American minister, author, and close friend and lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. Vivian resided in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded the C. T. Vivian Lead ...

requested he "Go back to church and renew yourself to nonviolence." Gloria Johnson and he even made a commitment to not work on the same protests together in fear of not being able to maintain their nonviolence if the other got assaulted. Powell continued to work closely with Diane Nash to provide much of the organization to the 1961 Freedom Rides, however, due to threats from his school he was not able to participate without risking his medical degree. Martin Luther King Jr. had once explained to their group the importance of them finishing their education, because there was a dire need for black doctors in their community.

LGBTQ rights

It was not until he received motivation from Susan Ford Wiltshire that Powell began to advocate for

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

rights. He was soon introduced to

Soulforce Soulforce is a U.S.-based social justice organization that works to end the religious and political oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) people. The organization's co-executive directors are Alba Onofrio ...

, an LGBTQ organization inspired by King's teachings. Renewed in his activism, Powell contacted his peers from the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

for help. However, he was turned down by most. This caused turmoil for Powell feeling ostracized by the African-American community for his sexuality leading him to leave the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

. In 2005 he helps Soulforce organize the

Equality Ride The Equality Ride is a periodic LGBT rights bus tour made for young adults and sponsored by Soulforce, a national LGBT nonprofit organization. They seek to debate LGBT issues with students at conservative Christian colleges and military acade ...

which were modeled after the Freedom Rides. During these rides the traveled to various military and religious institutions that promoted anti-homosexual agendas. Powell was seen as a mentor among Soulforce members as

Mel White James Melville "Mel" White (born June 26, 1940) is an American clergyman and author. White was a behind-the-scenes member of the Evangelical Protestant movement through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, writing film and television specials and ghostw ...

, founder of Soulforce, recalled how Powell pushed them to see their actions to the end and would scold them if they took bail due to it decreasing the impact of their actions. Powell now serves on the board of directors for Faith in America, an LGBTQ organization that seeks to transform organizations that discriminate towards LGBTQ members on the basis of religion.

Personal life

Born to Raymond and Norma Powell, Rodney spent his childhood in poverty. His father circled through chauffeuring, carpentry, and laboring jobs while his mother was prohibited from doing any

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes c ...

jobs. She took up seamstressing to help with the household income. Raymond was raised with three other siblings, but he held the responsibility to become the academic success in their family. He took odd jobs such as making deliveries for a Jewish

delicatessen Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...

to save up money for college. Around 10 years old, Powell says he knew he was gay and struggled to understand it. He spent his youth committed to the

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

and playing the violin. Heading home from school with his violin one day, Powell recalled being confronted by a group of kids and was "not nonviolent" using his violin case in self defense to fight them off. He attended the catholic school, St. Joseph's for his undergraduate before transferring to the all black Meharry Medical School. Here he met Gloria Johnson whom he married and had three children with: April Powell-Willingham, Allison Powell, and Daniel Powell. At St. Josephs, Powell had graduated with honors and his college success continued at Meharry where it was said he did not score below a 95 in any course. Powell found that the black experience he was seeking at Meharry was not what he had expected. He sought to join the movement, but felt the school was not promoting the movement and the students were more interested in socialite activities. After their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, Johnson and Powell joined the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

to go to Africa. Later in their marriage, Powell came out as gay which his children accepted, but Johnson expressed trouble adjusting to this information. The divorced five years later in 1975. Afterwards, Powell left for Hawaii, so he could live as an openly gay man and was able to meet his current partner Bob Eddinger, a zoologist. Powell continues to advocate for LGBTQ rights, but has taken a more relaxed role in his activism. Powell is now retired from medicine, living in Honolulu with Eddinger.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Rodney N. 1935 births African-American activists American gay men American LGBT rights activists Activists for African-American civil rights Activists from Philadelphia Meharry Medical College alumni 20th-century American physicians 21st-century American physicians Activists from Hawaii People from Honolulu LGBT physicians LGBT people from Hawaii LGBT people from Tennessee Physicians from Nashville, Tennessee LGBT people from Pennsylvania LGBT African Americans Living people Nashville Student Movement 21st-century African-American physicians