James Lawson, pastor and nonviolent activist, dies at 95
James Lawson Jr., known as "the architect of the civil rights movement," talks about Black Lives Matter and nonviolent protest during a break from teaching at the Proctor Institute in Clinton, Tennessee, in 2016. (File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News)
James M. Lawson Jr., who made it his life’s work to create a nonviolent nation, died June 9 at age 95.
Lawson, the son and grandson of Methodist pastors, received his local preacher’s license in 1947 when he graduated from high school. He was introduced to the nonviolence teachings of Gandhi when he joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the United State’s oldest pacifist organization, during his college days. He spent three years in India as a missionary.
Lawson introduced the principles of Gandhian nonviolence to young leaders of the 1960s civil rights movement. In his training of pastors, Lawson said, “Gandhi was not our major teacher, Jesus was.”
