Community mourns the loss of civil rights activist Dr. Charles Kimbrough

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A longtime civil rights activist who served Nashville has died.

Dr. Charles Kimbrough — a civil rights activist and former president of the Nashville branch of the NAACP — died at the age of 98. Kimbrough was a Korean War veteran, retired veterinarian and minister, but those who knew him remember him as a dedicated trailblazer above all else.

“You won’t find somebody like him in every church, in every school, in every community,” Reverend Enoch Fuzz, senior pastor for The Corinthian Church, told News 2.

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Kimbrough grew up during the height of Jim Crow in Prospect, Tennessee. Among his achievements, he earned a Purple Heart and went on to become one of the first licensed African Americans to practice veterinary medicine in Tennessee.

“He kept the movement alive in Nashville,” Fuzz said. “He was committed to helping poor people, disadvantaged people, people who were oppressed, people who were less educated, [people who had] a class differentiation — Dr. Kimbrough was with everybody. Every person was important to him.”

Kimbrough was president of the NAACP Nashville branch for several years, helping to expand its presence in Tennessee. As a member of the civil rights movement, he introduced many to the organization and its mission. In a statement to News 2 on Kimbrough’s legacy and efforts in the Nashville, a representative from Nashville’s mayor’s office said:

“Dr. Charles Kimbrough served our country with distinction. He earned a Purple Heart, served in Korea, earned his doctorate at Tuskegee, and fought for justice throughout the Civil Rights Movement. He founded multiple NAACP chapters and for seven years and served as the president of Nashville’s. All of that speaks to his selfless heart, his volunteer spirit, and his commitment to ensuring he left this world more just than he found it. We are lucky he called Nashville home.“

Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a resolution in honor of Kimbrough and his commitment to community leadership.

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“Dr. Kimbrough devoted his life to working to help all people be on an equal plane. That’s how he saw that America should be,” Fuzz added. “People like that come along rare[ly] in society — people who give their lives.”

A viewing for Kimbrough has been scheduled from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. Thursday, March 6 at the Terrell Broady Funeral Home in Nashville. An interment at Middle Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery will start at 10 a.m. Friday, March 7.

Kimbrough’s visitation will be held from 10:30 a.m. until noon at Spruce Street Baptist Church on Saturday, March 15; the funeral will start at noon and be held within the same church.

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