James Lawson

Reverend James Lawson (born September 22, 1928 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania) was a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the American Civil Rights Movement.

Background

Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Lawson grew up in Massillon, Ohio. While a freshman at Baldwin Wallace College in Brea, Ohio, he joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), an organization founded by A.J. Muste, and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), an organization affiliated with FOR. Both FOR and CORE advocated nonviolent resistance to racism; CORE conducted sit-ins in some northern cities in the late 1940s and embarked on a freedom ride more than a decade before the more famous ones of the early 1960s.

Related Topics:
Massillon, Ohio - Baldwin Wallace College - Brea, Ohio - Fellowship of Reconciliation - A.J. Muste - Congress of Racial Equality - Racism - Sit-in - 1940s - 1960s

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Consistent with those principles of nonviolence, Lawson declared himself a conscientious objector and refused to report for the draft in 1951. He served thirteen months in prison after refusing to take either a student or ministerial deferment.

Related Topics:
Conscientious objector - Draft - 1951

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After his release from prison, Lawson went as a Methodist missionary to Nagpur, India, where he studied satyagraha, the principles of nonviolence resistance that Mohandas Gandhi and his followers had developed. He returned to the United States in 1955, entering the Graduate School of Theology at Oberlin College in Ohio.

Related Topics:
Methodist - Missionary - Nagpur, India - Satyagraha - Mohandas Gandhi - 1955 - Oberlin College - Ohio

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