Six decades ago, James Lawson was expelled from Vanderbilt University for his involvement in nonviolent protests.
Now the school honors the former Massillonian who is believed to be one of the last living lions of the original civil rights movement.
Vanderbilt founds the Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements. The institute, which will open in autumn, will be dedicated to teaching, training and research on the subject of nonviolent protest.
It is one of several across the country that bear Lawson’s name.
“You can’t change the world with guns, bombs and bullets,” Lawson said.
In a statement, Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said Lawson is a lifelong example of the healing power of forgiveness.
“He has taught throughout his career, without reconciliation and forgiveness, there can be no meaningful change and advancement – no bridging the gap in our nation.
John Lewis said Lawson’s life was full of “good problems”
In the past few months and years, the death has claimed a number of Lawson’s civil rights activists, including Massillonian Charles McDew, US MP John Lewis, Gloria Richardson, Rev. CT Vivian, and most recently Bob Moses.
As John Lewis put it, Lawson’s life was a “good trouble”.
Civil rights:Massillons James Lawson speaks at the funeral of John Lewis
When Lawson was 4 years old, his family moved from Pennsylvania to Tremont Street SE in Massillon, where his father led the St. James African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
After graduating from Washington High School in 1946, Lawson enrolled at Baldwin-Wallace College and followed in his father’s footsteps into the clergy. He spent three years in India as a campus minister studying the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the father of nonviolent protest.
Convinced that the same strategy could work at home to reduce segregation, Lawson returned to the US and joined CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, a network of young clergymen who do nonviolent student sit-ins across the country coordinated.
Soulmates found in Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1957, Lawson found a kindred spirit in Rev. Martin Luther King. Jr., whom he met at Oberlin College, where Lawson received a Masters in Theology. It was Lawson who invited King to Memphis in April 1968 to help black plumbing workers on strike.
During his visit to Oberlin, King convinced Lawson to move south to help with the movement and not wait to graduate.
“After I made the decision to go south, I had to figure out how it was going to happen and where I could go,” he recalls.
After consulting with leaders of the US Fellowship of Reconciliation, of which he was a member, Lawson took a position as Secretary of the South onshore in 1958.
“We have decided that Nashville and Vanderbilt are the best place where we agreed they have the strongest theology program in the south,” Lawson said.
Organized anti-segregation protests in Nashville
Lawson quickly got involved in organizing non-violent anti-segregation protests at lunch tables in Nashville.
“In 1958, racism was nowhere on the public agenda,” he said. “The media didn’t understand the Montgomery bus boycott. Conventional black leaders didn’t understand why a bus boycott could turn a 24-year-old into a great black leader. They couldn’t understand why a simple bus boycott wasn’t easy, and how it could project a 20-year-old into the forefront of justice. “
In 1960, the Vanderbilt government expelled Lawson for his activities. Some at the university resigned in protest.
In 2008, Lawson told the Canton Repository, “I don’t remember thinking in 1958 or 1964 that we were going to make history; it was much more personal to me. I consider myself a follower of Jesus as we did God’s will by rejecting what was wrong. Racism says: ‘Everyone is not my neighbor.’ “
Ivory Lyons, professor of philosophy and religious studies at the University of Mount Union, said civil rights activists were guided by Jesus’ desire that people love God and others and be inspired by the words of the prophet Amos.
“Black Christians, however, saw rights as part of the package because they were drawn to the message that they might be like others and that God loved them despite their enslavement,” he said. “The passage from Amos and the love of one’s neighbor as well as oneself found favor with those Christians (and others) who stand up for rights created immediately.” They firmly believed that the rights they promoted were compatible with the Bible and the teachings of Christianity. “
Understand nonviolent protest
Lyons said the method of achieving civil rights – which they believed were commanded by Jesus – is non-violence.
“Nonviolence, while in line with the message of the Bible – at least in some places – did not come directly through Christianity at the time when blacks accepted Christianity,” he said. “The nonviolence was taken over by some leaders of the movement who were looking for ways to combat the oppression that blacks have experienced. Gandhi’s message of nonviolence was adopted by civil rights activists. “
John C. Green, Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Akron and a Senior Fellow of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, said the differing views on God and faith exhibited during the civil rights movement were not new.
“Eventually, during the Civil War, American Protestant denominations split into northern and southern components because the northern members were for the abolition of slavery and the southern for the maintenance of slavery,” Green said. “Both groups worshiped the same God, read the same Bible, and shared common views on other subjects.”
Green noted that applying Biblical teachings to everyday life can be complicated, especially in the case of civil rights protests that challenged state and local governments.
“On the one hand, the Bible clearly teaches that governments are instituted by God, but those governments are always imperfect because they are occupied by sinful people,” Green said. “On the other hand, the Bible also clearly demands justice from those who rule – even King David, ‘A man after God’s heart’, has been held accountable for his unjust conduct as king.
“In this regard, the American situation is particularly complex because it both gives power to government, but at the same time it limits government power. Separation of powers, free elections and freedom of opinion and religion are decisive. “Elements in the relinquishment and limitation of state power.”
Green said participating in a riot is always unacceptable to American Christians; however, it is acceptable, and sometimes even necessary, to exercise the limits of unjust exercise of power by a government.
“From this perspective, protests for the civil rights of racial minorities are acceptable as long as the protests are peaceful and work to make the government more just,” he said. “Similarly, protests against legal abortions are acceptable based on the same reasoning. But trying to overthrow the government over either problem would be unacceptable. Of course, some Christians who protest for civil rights reject protests against abortion – and conversely, Christians – even the most devout – are imperfect too. “
Lawson: Organize a nonviolent protest
Lawson said that even today most people still do not understand the concept of nonviolent protest, pointing out that the Underground Railroad is a form of that protest.
Lawson said the current tensions in the country are just the latest manifestation of opposition to ending sexism, racism and violence.
“I contend that the massive opposition you see from (Donald) Trump and the forces surrounding Trump matured in the 1960s under George Wallace and Strom Thurmond, but it has shown no effect,” he said. “George Will and William F. Buckley wrote in the 1960s that white civilization had to prevail against the NAACP. But it only froze with Trump.”
Lawson advises young activists to find a cause where they live.
“I would say sit down where you are, look around, and organize a non-violent protest on an issue you see on the ground,” he said. “Black Lives Matter is a phenomenal movement, but they should still be on the streets with demonstrations across the country. It’ll drive the Republicans crazy and give the Democrats some courage. That happened in the 1960s. “
After being expelled from Vanderbilt, Lawson graduated from Boston University. Decades later, Vanderbilt apologized for his actions and invited Lawson to return, which he did in 1996 to receive the Divinity School’s first Distinguished Alumnus Award, followed by a University Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2005.
According to the university’s website, Lawson became a Vanderbilt Distinguished University Professor from 2006 to 2009, followed by the establishment of the James M. Lawson Jr. Chair the next year. In 2018, the school awarded him an undergraduate scholarship in his honor.
Lawson has since donated much of his private papers to the university library.
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