Kwame Lillard, a Freedom Rider who carried the scars, lessons and memories of the civil rights struggle through a life of activism, died Sunday night. He was 81.
One of the few organizers of Nashville’s 1960s sit-ins still living, Lillard also served on the Metro Council from 1991 to 1995. After becoming a civil rights activist when he was still a teenager, Lillard spent 60 years as a leader in the struggle for dignity, equality and freedom for Black Americans and a sage for younger generations taking to the streets.
The African American Cultural Alliance announced his death Sunday night.
“It is with profound sadness and heavy hearts that we share with you the news that Kwame Lillard, Freedom Rider and Civil Rights Activist, a cherished man passed away this evening,” reads a statement from the nonprofit organization. “Please continue to pray for his family and so many of us whose hearts are truly broken. Remembering Baba, a wonderful and gentle soul who will forever remain in our hearts.”
In a remembrance on Twitter, Tennessee State University professor and North Nashville historian Learotha Williams mourned the loss of a compatriot and a reservoir of the movement’s history.
“Kwame was a friend, confidant, griot and unapologetic truth teller,” Williams wrote. “Tonight it feels as though a library has burned to the ground.”
Williams tells the Scene that Lillard was a powerful force to have on one’s side.
“If Kwame was on your team, it always felt like you were going to prevail in whatever you were up against,” Williams says. “When I wanted the intimate details of North Nashville’s role in the civil rights movement, Kwame was like the [North Nashville History Project] cheat code.”
Metro Councilmember Zulfat Suara remembered Lillard as a civil rights legend who was always available to others looking to follow his example.
“This is a huge loss to Nashville," Suara wrote on Twitter. "For such an icon, he was always accessible. Sharing his time and wisdom. Rest in Power brother Kwame.”
Even before his mid-20s, Lillard had stared down various manifestations of white supremacy. Writing for The Bitter Southerner several years ago, Erin E. Tocknell spoke to Lillard about his defiant confrontation with Nashville’s segregated public pools. By that point, just out of college at Tennessee State, Lillard was already working on Freedom Rides.
Fifty years after the lunch-counter sit-ins he helped organize, Lillard and other veterans of the movement staged a reenactment of the pivotal protests in downtown Nashville.
Now a generation of activists he inspired and mentored mourns his loss.
“Nashville lost a legend tonight,” wrote activist Justin Jones, who led months of demonstrations at the state Capitol aimed at securing the removal of Nathan Bedford Forrest’s bust inside.
Singer-songwriter Adia Victoria remembered Lillard welcoming her into the legacy of Black music in Nashville.
“When I first moved to Nashville Kwame took me on a walk down Jefferson [Street] and explained to me the history of black excellence in Nashville,” Victoria wrote on Twitter Sunday night. “He told me to “play that guitar, girl!” and encouraged me to perform when I doubted I could. Rest in power. Nashville has lost a giant today.”
