James Lawson autobiography traces path of Civil Rights icon through Memphis and beyond
Rev. James Lawson spoke on the balcony outside Room 306 at the National Civil Rights Museum, formerly the Lorraine Motel, on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (Mark Humphrey/AP file)
The day before he died in 2024 at the age of 95, Rev. James Lawson was watching television news reports of protests on college campuses by students opposed to Israel’s invasion of Gaza following an attack within Israel by the terrorist group Hamas.
Lawson told his son John that he had to help organize the protests.
The architect of the American civil rights movement’s philosophy and tactical underpinning of nonviolent resistance was an intense tactician who shaped a movement that changed America.
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James Lawson John Lawson Emily Yellin National Civil Rights Museum Civil Rights Movement 1968 Sanitation Strike Black Monday Subscriber OnlyThank you for being a subscriber to The Daily Memphian. Your support is critical.
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
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