Dan Wakefield’s legacy

Dan Wakefield (Photo provided/ Kara Kavensky)  Dan Wakefield didn’t swear on Sundays. He hadn’t owned a car since an accident in Miami over fifteen years ago. He enjoyed good company and excellent conversation, and readily expressed aggravation towards technology — his nemesis. Wakefield was born May 21, 1932, and grew up in Indianapolis on Guilford Avenue, where his backyard bumped up against the track and football field for Broad Ripple High School. He went to IPS #80, then took two buses from his home to attend Shortridge High School, graduating in 1950 with Richard Lugar. The Senator would later honor his friend at the opening of Dan Wakefield Park in Broad Ripple in 2016. Wakefield went to Columbia University and majored in journalism. He contributed to Dissent, Commonweal, Commentary, New World Writing, Harpers, Esquire, The Atlantic, The Yoga Journal, GQ and TV Guide. Wakefield became a staff writer for The Nation, covering the Emmett Till trial. Devery Anderson, author of “A Slow, Calculated lynching: The Story of Clyde Kennard” interviewed Dan Wakefield for his book titled, “Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled The Civil Rights Movement”. Dan discovered, through Anderson, that he was one of the...