News Desk
James Lawson, the African American civil rights activist who went to India to study nonviolent protest and served as the main strategist for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has passed away at 95.
Lawson, a Methodist minister, learned Mahatma Gandhi’s civil disobedience principles and taught them to US protesters fighting against racial segregation. He trained many activists on how to peacefully resist violence and threats to expose the injustice of racism.
Dr. King highly praised Lawson’s methods, referring to him as one of the noble figures in the black struggle and the top expert on nonviolence globally. Lawson passed away in Los Angeles, where he resided.His family shared this information on Monday.
Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1928, James Lawson was raised in a family of ministers. His journey towards studying nonviolence began at the age of eight when he refrained from using violence after a troubling incident.
Despite facing challenges like refusing to be drafted into the Korean War and serving prison time for draft dodging, he remained committed to nonviolent principles. Following his time in India studying Gandhi’s tactics, he returned to the US, where he met Dr. King at Oberlin College in Ohio.
In a speech at John Lewis’ funeral in 2020, Lawson expressed that many of them felt compelled to take action due to recognizing the injustices they faced from a young age. They made a vow to work towards ending these wrongs and bringing attention to them on a national level.
Lawson emphasized the importance of putting an end to these injustices, stating “Black lives matter.”
During a time when opinions in black communities varied on how to combat institutional racism and segregation, James Lawson embraced non-violence. Influenced by Dr. King, Lawson relocated to Nashville to study at Vanderbilt University while teaching non-violent protest methods
. Many of his students, including John Lewis and Marion Barry, became notable figures in the civil rights movement. Following Dr. King’s assassination in 1968, Lawson developed a relationship with the convicted killer, James Earl Ray, even officiating Ray’s marriage in prison.
Lawson eventually questioned Ray’s sole responsibility for King’s death. Additionally, he co-founded the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a pivotal organization in the fight for racial equality.
