Ivy Merrill

Decency and Nobility: the Life of Jonathan Myrick Daniels Ivy Merrill

What crime does a privileged kid from New Hampshire commit to land himself in a county jail in Alabama in 1965? How does a young man studying to become a priest end up murdered on the steps of a small store? When a peacemaker graduates valedictorian from a prestigious military college what battle is he willing to fight? When Jonathan Daniels committed himself to the Civil Rights movement and joined the effort to register black people to vote in Alabama in 1965, he could not have known the profound results of his actions. Martin Luther King Jr. said Jon's act was "...one of the most heroic deeds of which I have heard in my entire ministry and career for civil rights." This ordinary kid from a small New England town became a champion of civil rights and a hero for the ages. His story inspires all who hear it to a life of "decency and nobility."