A portrait of civil rights leader and Vanderbilt University professor the Rev. James Lawson will be unveiled Nov. 13 at Vanderbilt.
The portrait by Simmie Knox, a prominent Washington, D.C., artist who painted the official White House portrait of President Bill Clinton, will be unveiled during a private event at 6 p.m. Nov. 13 in Benton Chapel on the Vanderbilt campus.
"The tale of the Rev. Lawson’s relationship with Vanderbilt has been an epic," said Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. "This beautiful portrait marks one of the high notes of that relationship. It’s our fervent hope that the Rev. Lawson will continue to be a resource for our students for years to come."
The fall 2008 semester marked the 50th anniversary of Lawson’s arrival at Vanderbilt. He returned in 2006 as a Distinguished University Professor, 46 years after being expelled as a student in 1960 because of his work helping to desegregate lunch counters in downtown Nashville. After a national press uproar and threats of mass faculty resignations, a compromise allowed Lawson to complete his graduate studies at Vanderbilt. He opted instead to complete his degree at Boston University.
Dubbed by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as "the leading nonviolence theorist in the world," Lawson studied the Gandhian movement in India before becoming a leader in the civil rights movement. He also had a long career as a United Methodist minister.
Knox, formerly an abstract artist, has specialized in portraiture since 1981. He has been commissioned to paint the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., writer Alex Haley, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, comedian Bill Cosby, boxer Muhammad Ali and many others. He will not attend the unveiling.
Watch the Midsouth Emmy Winning Video: Rev. James Lawson Returns
Rev. James Lawson returns to Vanderbilt University as a Distinguished University Professor, more than four decades after a national furor over his expulsion from the university as a result of his civil rights activities.
(Producer/Writer: Emily Pearce; Photographer/Editor/Producer: Pat Slattery)
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu