In the days after his death of cardiac arrest on June 9 in Los Angeles, the Rev. James Morris Lawson, Jr., was described as “the key architect of the cvil rights movement” (NPR), “a civil rights icon” (CNN), and a “towering civil rights activist” (The Tennesseean). He was all of those things, of course, and so much more, but to Death Penalty Focus, Rev. Lawson was an inspiration, a treasured friend, and a valued advisor.
A former DPF Board of Directors and Advisory Board member, Rev. Lawson was honored by DPF in 2018 with our Lifetime Achievement Award and, in 2002, the Norman Felton and Denise Aubuchon Humanitarian Award.
“Rev. Lawson’s legacy is one of courage, compassion, and a tireless commitment to making the world a better place. His life’s work stands as a testament to the power of love and the enduring strength of the human spirit,” DPF Board President Mike Farrell, a close friend of Rev. Lawson for decades, wrote.
It’s the perfect summation of the life of an extraordinary human being.
From being one of the earliest supporters of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference to his arrest as one of the first Freedom Riders in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1961, to his participation in the “Bloody Sunday” clash on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, his life was a profile in courage and integrity.
If you’d like to know more about the life of Rev. Lawson, you can view a documentary that Public Counsel commissioned when it honored Rev. Lawson in 2013 on our website at www.deathpenalty.org