The Rev. James Lawson Jr., an icon of the Civil Rights Movement and the longtime pastor of Holman United Methodist Church in South Los Angeles, died Monday at age 95.
According to the Los Angeles Sentinel, which first reported the news, Lawson died Monday morning from cardiac arrest. No other details were immediately available.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Heather Hutt, who led a street-dedication ceremony for Lawson in January outside Holman UMC, confirmed the death, telling City News Service in a statement: “Reverend James Morris Lawson was a leader of our community and world, whose messages of love and nonviolence left an indelible mark on the Civil Rights Movement and influenced many. I am deeply saddened to hear of his passing, but know his legacy will continue to guide us for generations to come. His message of love will forever live on in every heart he touched. May he rest in power.”
Rev. James Lawson speaks speaks during a celebration of life marking the one-year anniversary of U.S Rep. John Lewis’s death Saturday, July 17, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Rev. James Lawson speaks speaks during a celebration of life marking the one-year anniversary of U.S Rep. John Lewis’s death Saturday, July 17, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. A portrait of Rep. Lewis is shown in the background. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
FILE – In this Sept. 17, 2015, file photo, the Rev. James Lawson speaks in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Lawson, who led nonviolence workshops during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, said he’s encouraged by efforts to maintain equality at the polls amid what he see as attempts to thwart it. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE – In this Sept. 17, 2015, file photo, the Rev. James Lawson speaks in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Lawson, who led nonviolence workshops during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, said he’s encouraged by efforts to maintain equality at the polls amid what he see as attempts to thwart it. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE – In this Sept. 17, 2015, file photo, the Rev. James Lawson speaks in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Lawson, who led nonviolence workshops during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, said he’s encouraged by efforts to maintain equality at the polls amid what he see as attempts to thwart it. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE – In this Sept. 17, 2015, file photo, the Rev. James Lawson speaks in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Lawson, who led nonviolence workshops during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, said he’s encouraged by efforts to maintain equality at the polls amid what he see as attempts to thwart it. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
Rev. James Lawson speaks during the funeral service for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Thursday, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Rev. James Lawson speaks 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., Wednesday, April 4, 2018, in Memphis, Tenn. King was staying in Room 306 when he was assassinated in 1968. Lawson was serving as chairman of the sanitation workers strike committee at the time, for which King had come to Memphis to help. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
People march in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Wednesday, April 4, 2018, in Memphis, Tenn. From left are Rev. James Lawson, labor union leader Lee Saunders, Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., Rev. Al Sharpton, and Martin Luther King III. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Rev. C.T. Vivian, left, and Rev. James Lawson take part in a discussion at Middle Tennessee State University about the Voting Rights Act Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The two legends of the Civil Rights Movement say they’re encouraged by efforts to maintain equality at the polls amid what they see as attempts to thwart it. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Rev. C.T. Vivian, left, and Rev. James Lawson take part in a discussion at Middle Tennessee State University about the Voting Rights Act Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The two legends of the Civil Rights Movement say they’re encouraged by efforts to maintain equality at the polls amid what they see as attempts to thwart it. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 07: Pastor Emeritus Holman United Methodist Church, Legendary Civil Rights activist – Reverend James Lawson at “The Help – The Power Of Film To Create Social Change” Panel Discussion Presented By USC School Of Cinematic Arts at the Landmark Theater on February 7, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision/AP Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 07: Pastor Emeritus Holman United Methodist Church, Legendary Civil Rights activist – Reverend James Lawson at “The Help – The Power Of Film To Create Social Change” Panel Discussion Presented By USC School Of Cinematic Arts at the Landmark Theater on February 7, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision/AP Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 07: Pastor Emeritus Holman United Methodist Church, Legendary Civil Rights activist – Reverend James Lawson and Octavia Spencer at “The Help – The Power Of Film To Create Social Change” Panel Discussion Presented By USC School Of Cinematic Arts at the Landmark Theater on February 7, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision/AP Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 07: Pastor Emeritus Holman United Methodist Church, Legendary Civil Rights activist – Reverend James Lawson, Octavia Spencer and Director/Writer Tate Taylor at “The Help – The Power Of Film To Create Social Change” Panel Discussion Presented By USC School Of Cinematic Arts at the Landmark Theater on February 7, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision/AP Images)
Rev. James Lawson, left, civil rights leader/activist and California Attorney General, Kamala Harris, share a laugh Friday Jan. 14, 2011 during an annual breakfast recognizing the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Anna Sandhu Ray displays her wedding ring and certificate of marriage on Oct. 13, 1978 in Petros, Tennessee, she was married to James Earl Ray at Burshy Mountain Prison Friday. Behind her is Rev. James Lawson who heard the vows. (AP Photo/JHJR)
Institute volunteer James Armstrong, left, speaks with Rev. James Lawson, center, and Rev. C.T. Vivian while they tour the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute during the final stop in Birmingham, Ala., for the Freedom Ride on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007. A group from Nashville re-traced the historic journey from Montgomery, Ala., to Birmingham during the weekend trip. (AP Photo/Michelle Williams)
Rev. James Lawson, a Civil Rights era activist and 1961 Freedom Rider, gestures during a labor rally Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003 in Oakland Park, Fla. Lawson was among a group of union and civic leaders announcing the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride where immigrant workers and supporters will set out in buses from Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Boston, Chicago and Minneapolis to Washington, D.C. in support of immigration reform. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
MEMPHIS, TN – APRIL 04: Rev. James Lawson speaks from the balcony outside room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated 50 years ago, April 4, 2018 in Memphis, Tennessee. The city is commemorating his legacy with a series of events, including speeches and memorials on the balcony outside his hotel room 306, which is now part of the complex of the National Civil Rights Museum. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
US professor/activist Reverend James Lawson and Executive Director of the Children’s Defense Fund Shimica Gaskins arrive for the Children’s Defense Fund-California’s 28th Annual Beat the Odds awards at the Skirball cultural center in Los Angeles on December 6, 2018. (Photo by LISA O’CONNOR / AFP) (Photo credit should read LISA O’CONNOR/AFP via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 06: James Lawson speaks at the Children’s Defense Fund California’s 28th Annual Beat The Odds Awards at Skirball Cultural Center on December 6, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 06: James Lawson attends the Children’s Defense Fund California’s 28th Annual Beat The Odds Awards at the Skirball Cultural Center on December 06, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 04: Rev. James Lawson speaks from the pulpit of the First AME Church during an event in solidarity with union workers in Wisconsin on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination on April 4, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Labor unions throughout the country rallied around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message for the rights of labor. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 04: Rev. James Lawson speaks from the pulpit of the First AME Church during an event in solidarity with union workers in Wisconsin on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination on April 4, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Labor unions throughout the country rallied around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message for the rights of labor. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 04: Labor leader William Lucy (R) from AFSCME and civil rights leader Rev. James Lawson speaks attend an event in solidarity with union workers in Wisconsin on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination at First AME Church on April 4, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Labor unions throughout the country rallied around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message for the rights of labor. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 12: Director Lee Daniels (L) and James Lawson attend LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER Los Angeles premiere, hosted by TWC, Budweiser and FIJI Water, Purity Vodka and Stack Wines, held at the Ritz-Carlton on August 12, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for TWC)
James Lawson talks about the judgement they received against the City of Los Angeles which stated that Herb Wesson can not be put in Mark Ridely Thomas seat on the city council at Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles Thursday, February 24, 2022. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Lawson was pastor of Holman United Methodist Church from 1974 until his retirement in 1999. A mile-long stretch of Adams Boulevard from Crenshaw Boulevard to Arlington Avenue in front of the church was co-named in January as the Reverend James Lawson Mile.
Born James Morris Lawson Jr. Sept. 22, 1928, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the son and grandson of Methodist ministers, Lawson was raised in Massillon, Ohio.
While a student at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, Lawson was drafted by the U.S. Army, but refused to serve due to his belief in nonviolence and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Released after 13 months, Lawson returned to college to finish his education, then traveled to Nagpur, India, as a Methodist missionary to study the nonviolence resistance tactics developed by Mahatma Gandhi.
Lawson returned to the United States in 1956, entering the Graduate School of Theology at Oberlin College in Ohio. According to a biography from the Stanford University-based Martin Luther King, Jr. Research & Education Institute, one of Lawson’s Oberlin professors introduced him to King, who had also embraced Gandhi’s principles of nonviolent resistance.
In 1957, King urged Lawson to move to the South telling him, “Come now. We don’t have anyone like you down there.” He moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he attended Vanderbilt University and began teaching nonviolent protest techniques.
In February 1960, following lunch counter sit-ins initiated by students at a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina, Lawson and several local activists launched a similar protest in Nashville’s downtown stores. More than 150 students were arrested before city leaders agreed to desegregate some lunch counters.
Lawson was expelled from Vanderbilt in March 1960 because of his involvement with Nashville’s desegregation movement. Lawson eventually reconciled with Vanderbilt and returned to teach as a distinguished university professor. Vanderbilt established a institute for the research and study of nonviolent movements bearing his name in 2021.
Lawson participated in the 1961 Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals.
Lawson became pastor of Centenary Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1962. In 1968, when Black sanitation workers in Memphis began a strike for higher wages and union recognition after two of their co-workers were accidentally crushed to death, Lawson served as chairman of their strike committee.
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Lawson and King led a march in support of the strikers on March 28, 1968, which erupted in violence and was immediately called off.
In what would be his final speech on April 3, 1968, one day before his assassination, King spoke of Lawson as one of the “noble men” who had influenced the Black freedom struggle.
“He’s been going to jail for struggling; he’s been kicked out of Vanderbilt University for this struggling; but he’s still going on, fighting for the rights of his people,” King said.
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