Born in 1934, Vernon P. Woodward was an Episcopal priest at Church of the Advent in Cincinnati, Ohio when he was arrested for his participation in the Prayer Pilgrimage Freedom Ride in 1961. As part of the pilgrimage, Woodward, along with fourteen other Episcopal clergymen, traveled from New Orleans, Louisiana to Jackson, Mississippi where he and the others were arrested in the Trailways terminal on 13 September 1961.
Cincinnatian 1 Of 15 Pastors Freed In South
Rev. Vernon P. Woodward of Cincinnati was among 15 Episcopal ministers who were freed of breach-of-the-peace charges yesterday in Jackson, Miss. The bi-raclal group of ministers had been fined and sentenced to four-month jail terms after attempting to desegregate a bus station restaurant last fall. The group, which Included a son-in-law of New York’s Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, had spent only a few days in jail following arrest. Rev. Mr. woodward resigned as curate at the Church of the Advent, Walnut Hills, last September to join the pilgrimage which landed him in jail. Charges were dropped against the ministers “out of respect and admiration for the Episcopal Church and the Mississippi Episcopal churchmen,” according to the prosecution in Jackson. (Source:
The Cincinnati Enquirer, April 10, 1962.)
Vernon married Mary Stewart SKINNER on 12 Jun 1956 in Ithaca, New York. Mary (daughter of Murray Stewart SKINNER and Eleanor LOUGHRAN) was born on 6 Feb 1936 in Fitchburg, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]