James Lawson (activist)

James Lawson
Lawson in 2005
Born
James Morris Lawson Jr.

(1928-09-22)September 22, 1928
DiedJune 9, 2024(2024-06-09) (aged 95)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education
Occupation(s)Activist, professor, minister
Known forNashville sit-ins

James Morris Lawson Jr. (September 22, 1928 – June 9, 2024) was an American activist and university professor. He was a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the Civil Rights Movement. During the 1960s, he served as a mentor to the Nashville Student Movement and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was expelled from Vanderbilt University for his civil rights activism in 1960, and later served as a pastor in Los Angeles for 25 years.