Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. was a civil rights leader whose focus on non-violent protest proved highly influential to Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) and helped shape the 1960s civil rights movement.
- Died: June 9, 2024 (Who else died on June 9?)
- Details of death: Died in Los Angeles at the age of 95.
- We invite you to share condolences for Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. in our Guest Book.
Rev. James M. Lawson Jr.’s legacy
Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania and educated at Baldwin-Wallace College and Boston University, James M. Lawson Jr.’s life was spent confronting power and finding ways to do so effectively. In 1951, he was arrested for refusing to register for the draft. Following his parole, he traveled to India, where he found himself inspired by Gandhi’s nonviolent approach to protest.
Lawson returned to the United States and went back to school, studying at Oberlin College’s School of Theology and Vanderbilt University, the latter of which expelled him for participating in the burgeoning desegregation movement. He met Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957, who urged him to move to the South and assist with its growing civil rights movement. Lawson did so, and proved a big influence on King, who himself adopted a nonviolent approach despite facing increasingly hostile resistance. King spotlighted Lawson in his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” on April 3, 1968.
Lawson helped create the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Nashville in 1960 and was involved in the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and more. In the 1970s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he became pastor of Holman United Methodist Church, serving from 1974 to 1999 before becoming its pastor emeritus. He also taught at the University of California Los Angeles’ college of social sciences.
On combating political apathy:
“We have to constantly understand that the apathy is a pretension. It is an apathy that grows out of the whole enforced pattern of segregation for the Negro.” — Interview with Robert Penn Warren, 1964
Tributes to Rev. James M. Lawson Jr.
Full obituary: The New York Times
