Labor Ally and Civil Rights Leader, Rev. James Lawson Jr., Dies at 95

Earlier this month, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations  (AFL-CIO) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) released statements of condolences on the passing of Reverend James Lawson, Jr. According to a report from Associated Press detailing much of Rev. Lawson’s life, Lawson’s family said he died on June 9th after a short illness in Los Angeles, where he spent decades working as a pastor, labor movement organizer and university professor. AFL-CIO’s statement called Rev. Lawson “a labor visionary and key strategist behind the Freedom Rides whose commitment to nonviolent activism shaped the Civil Rights Movement.“ AFSCME’s statement from their President Lee Saunders praised Lawson as “one of the greatest architects of social change in recent American history.” Saunders stated, “No one was more courageously committed than  Rev. James Lawson to the philosophy of nonviolent resistance — both as a moral imperative and an effective strategy for the pursuit of justice.”

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