Rev. James Lawson, civil rights leader, dies at 95

James Lawson in 2004 at the office of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice in Los Angeles. The man was a born teacher, in the truest sense of the word.” Called “the leading nonviolence theorist” by King, Lawson had studied Gandhi’s philosophy in India before joining the struggle in the South. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, in a statement Monday, said, “Reverend James Lawson Jr.’s life and legacy reverberates in the continuing movement to advance social and economic justice in Los Angeles and beyond. He taught them not only the lofty principles of passive resistance but also fundamental tactics, including how to withstand taunts and physical attacks, avoid breaking loitering laws, “even how to dress” for a sit-in, historian Taylor Branch wrote, which meant “stockings and heels for the women, coats and ties for the fellows.” His nonviolence workshops nurtured many of the leaders who would propel the movement in the 1960s, including Lewis, who was one of the organizers of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC. Longtime activist Julian Bond recalled in “Voices of Freedom,” an oral history of the movement, that Lawson sounded “like the bad younger brother pushing King to do more, to be more militant” and had “a much more ambitious idea of what nonviolence could do.” The day following Lawson’s speech, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was founded with a statement of purpose drafted by Lawson.