Tim Stevens reflects on journey throughout Civil Rights Movement

Sitting in the church he grew up in, Tim Stevens thoughtfully and carefully reminisced about his experiences during the evolution of the civil rights era.
Trinity AME Church is located in the Hill District on the corner of Wylie Avenue and Francis Street, and is located two buildings down from where Stevens lived as a child.
Stevens, 70, has been an organist in the church for almost 50 years—about the same amount of time he has served as a civil rights activist in Pittsburgh.
His involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, as we know it, almost didn’t happen; in 1967, he was on his way to a lucrative career in the oil and gas business in Washington, DC.
Stevens is one of three “In the Spirit of King” like veteran leaders the New Pittsburgh Courier is spotlighting in it’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Special Edition on newsstands now.
“On national television there was always pictures of riots going on… I’m watching this as I’m on the edge of being promoted as the second Black salesman in DC and I decided that that wasn’t what I needed to be doing,” he said.