Civil rights pioneer and Vanderbilt Distinguished University Professor James Lawson will give a lecture at Vanderbilt‘s Benton Chapel on Feb. 2 at 1 p.m.
Just days after returning from an historic trip with fellow civil rights pioneers, retracing the powerful and often violent trail of the 1961 Freedom Rides, Lawson will reflect on the civil rights movement and the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
King hailed Lawson as “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.” As a divinity student at Vanderbilt in the late 1950s, Lawson trained and led activists in Nashville‘s successful sit-ins to end segregated lunch counters. He also played a leading role in the march on Washington and the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers‘ strike.
Lawson‘s activism led to his expulsion from Vanderbilt. After protests by some at Vanderbilt, he was invited to return in 1960, but he chose to finish his degree elsewhere. In 2005, Lawson received Vanderbilt‘s Distinguished Alumnus Award and is now a Distinguished Visiting Professor.
The public is invited to the 1 p.m. speech at Benton Chapel, with a reception immediately following at the Owen Graduate School of Management. Lawson was asked to speak by Owen‘s Black Student Association.
Founded in 1969, the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University is ranked as a top institution by Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report and Forbes. For more news about Owen, visit www.owen.vanderbilt.edu.
Media contact: Amy Wolf (615) 322-NEWS
amy.wolf@vanderbilt.edu