James Lawson (activist)

For other people named James Lawson, see James Lawson (disambiguation).

James Lawson
Lawson in 2005
Born
James Morris Lawson Jr.

(1928-09-22)September 22, 1928
Uniontown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedJune 9, 2024(2024-06-09) (aged 95)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education
Occupation(s)Activist, professor, minister
Known forNashville sit-ins

James Morris Lawson Jr. (September 22, 1928 – June 9, 2024) was an American activist and university professor. He was a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the Civil Rights Movement.[1] During the 1960s, he served as a mentor to the Nashville Student Movement and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.[2][3] He was expelled from Vanderbilt University for his civil rights activism in 1960, and later served as a pastor in Los Angeles for 25 years.

  1. ^ "Freedom Riders: James Lawson". PBS. Archived from the original on May 20, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  2. ^ Hughes, Richard A. (2009). Pro-justice Ethics: From Lament to Nonviolence. New York: Peter Lang. p. 226. ISBN 978-1433105258.
  3. ^ Catsam, Derek Charles (2009). Freedom's Main Line: The Journey of Reconciliation and the Freedom Rides. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0813125114.