Rev. Jesse L. Douglas Sr. wasn’t a headline chaser, he was a history maker. He organized marches, handled logistics, housed activists, and traveled alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. However, the world didn’t learn until now that he actually passed away over four years ago.

According to The New York Times, Douglas died on February 17, 2021, at 90 years old in a nursing home. His daughter, Adrienne Douglas Vaulx, confirmed his passing, which wasn’t widely reported. Even The New York Times—who had already prepared an obituary—did not learn of his death until last week. 

Born Jesse Lee Douglas on August 19, 1930, in New Orleans, he was the son of working-class parents. His father, Willie Lee Douglas, worked as a cook in the merchant marine, and his mother, Isabelle, was a housemaid. Raised in the segregated South, he attended historically Black schools and began his college career at Dillard University in New Orleans. He later transferred to Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, graduating in 1959. His commitment to ministry and social justice continued when he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree in 1962 from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. 

Douglas helped plan the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting-rights marches, including the infamous “Bloody Sunday,” where peaceful protestors were attacked and beaten by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. John Lewis, then only 25 years old, suffered a fractured skull that day but survived and went on to become one of the most respected moral voices in American politics until his death in 2020. While Lewis became a face of courage, Douglas was one of the hands making sure the movement could move forward.

As president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and a longtime board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Douglas shaped strategy and operational power. If Dr. King was the voice of the movement, Douglas helped make sure that voice was heard safely and effectively. He coordinated travel, managed lodging, and ensured safety, often working around the clock so that marches could happen without collapsing under pressure.

Born with albinism, Douglas had very light skin and blue eyes, and newspapers often misidentified him in photos as an “unidentified white man” standing beside Dr. King. The New York Times reports Douglas said his appearance sometimes protected him from violent segregationists. “They always considered me a sympathizer with Black people, but not one of them,” he said. “You know, that’s how I became ‘unidentified white man.’ They didn’t want to arouse friction from their own kind for killing another white man.”

Still, Douglas witnessed the cost of the fight firsthand. Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 at just 39 years old.

Rest in peace, Rev. Jesse L. Douglas Sr.

Clay Cane is a New York Times bestselling writer and the author of the upcoming Burn Down Master’s House: A Novel, which will be released Jan. 27. Pre-order here.